Q:\u00a0 As of now, new owners are given a copy of our HOA rules and sign to acknowledge their receipt. In anticipation of legal fights that will ensue from the several new laws emasculating HOA boards, I am thinking that members should also be required to sign an agreement to abide by the HOA rules. This would better show a breach of contract in court should those rules are ignored by paying a $100 fine. Thoughts? How would that procedure be put in place for new buyers, or perhaps all members after the fact?\u2014 R.S., Solana Beach<\/p>\n
A: Rules, if properly adopted, do not conflict with law or the other governing documents, and are announced to all members, should bind all HOA owners. I understand why you would want owners to be aware of rules, since frankly homebuyers in HOAs often don\u2019t bother to look at the rules (or CC&Rs) until after they become members and are having a problem. However, Civil Code Section 5975(c) already provides a very powerful incentive for members to avoid violating the governing documents \u2013 in actions to enforce the governing documents (including the rules) if the HOA is successful in that action it \u201cshall\u201d be awarded its attorney fees. The problem is that litigation is very expensive and destructive to relationships within the HOA, which is why many HOAs formerly used to try stronger fines to induce compliance \u2013 which stronger fines are now prohibited by Civil Code Section 5850 (except regarding health and safety rules violations). Under the new restrictions imposed as of July 1, 2025, HOAs now have fewer options to induce compliance and consequently may increasingly need to rely on court action to stop unneighborly behavior.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Q: Our board has decided that in response to AB 130, that all violations shall be considered \u201csafety and health\u201d violations. Plus, if you violate say, a conduct rule, that they will have you charged multiple times. One homeowner was charged dozens of times for a single continuing violation. He faced a $100 fine imposed many times on a single continuing violation for a large total. Is this legal?\u2014 B.G, Palm Desert<\/p>\n
A: Your board may want to consult with its legal counsel. Civil Code Section 5850(d)(2) requires that before imposing a penalty over $100 for a violation of health and safety rules, the board must in an open board meeting specify the adverse health or safety impact upon the common area or another member\u2019s property. A blanket label on all rules as \u201chealth and safety related\u201d would violate the spirit of the statute. A board invoking a blanket adoption of all rules as \u201chealth and safety rules\u201d could expose the HOA to potential embarrassment in court if a judge finds the fine was excessive because the violation did not truly involve a health and safety concern. A continuing violation unfairly characterized as multiple daily violations also may lack credibility to a court if the fines were disputed. That could expose the HOA not only to embarrassment and a negation of enforcement but could also result in the court ordering the HOA to pay the homeowner\u2019s legal fees. So, short cuts could prove to be very expensive mistakes for HOAs in this area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Richardson, Esq. is a fellow of the College of Community Association Lawyers and partner of Richardson Ober LLP, a California law firm known for community association advice. Submit column questions to\u00a0kelly@roattorneys.com<\/a>. Past columns at\u00a0www.HOAHomefront.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Q:\u00a0 As of now, new owners are given a copy of our HOA rules and sign to acknowledge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[387,2087,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-479389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-business","tag-business-columns","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}