Blog post by David Swedelson, Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys Many boards of directors make enforcement decisions without considering all of the variables. We get contacted and told that an owner has violated the association’s CC&Rs. When we start asking questions, we find out that there have been similar…
By David Swedelson, Partner, SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys In California, condo/HOA associations have the right to tow so long as they comply with the law. But sometimes, associations can be too zealous. I was just referred to an article about such a situation in Florida. Last year, a Florida community…
By David Swedelson, Esq. and Cyrus Koochek, Esq., SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys At the end of April 2014, California Governor Jerry Brown issued an executive order in an attempt to bolster the state’s ability to conserve, manage, and consume water in light of the major drought conditions currently affecting almost…
By David Swedelson, Senior Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb, California Community Association Attorneys Often, we are asked by board members at community associations whether the board can use self help to resolve a problem where an owner is failing to maintain their unit or lot/home. Sometimes, we learn about it after the…
Most homeowners at condo or HOAs follow their association’s rules. A few “bend the rules a bit.” And although they know that they “should be doing as” the rules require, they don’t. They seem to believe that doing things the “wrong way may seem easier,” “It doesn’t matter who you…
By David Swedelson, Senior Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys This was the title of a recent newspaper article. As Justin Bieber has been in the news too often lately and seems to be spiraling out of control, and as there is now a community association component to the story,…
By Cyrus Koochek and David Swedelson, Community Association Attorneys, SwedelsonGottlieb It is a fact of community association governance that at some point, every community association board of directors will likely have the need to levy a fine on a member. Most associations have adopted a schedule of monetary penalties or…
By David Swedelson and Cyrus Koochek, Community Association Attorneys at SwedelsonGottlieb Many California condominium and homeowner associations’ CC&Rs permit the Board of Directors, on behalf of an association, to impose a reimbursement assessment/monetary charge on a member for the cost of repairing damage caused by a member (or the member’s…
By David Swedelson, Senior Partner, SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys San Rafael, a city just north of San Francisco, recently made active a smoking ban which prohibits smoking cigarettes inside any dwelling that shares a wall with another unit and this would include condominiums. It is considered the strictest smoking ban…
By David Swedelson, Condo Lawyer, HOA Attorney, Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb, and Dog/Pet Lover According to an article in the Tuesday, November 5, 2013 edition of the Los Angeles Times (follow this link for the article), Orange County supervisors are debating a proposal to create a website showing where every dangerous…