By Sandra Gottlieb, Senior Partner SwedelsonGottlieb; Condo Lawyer and HOA Attorney We know that there is a tendency to classify some condo and HOA staff as independent contractors rather then employees. Some community association boards want to do this because they think that such a classification will mean that their…
Assembly Bill 771 (Betsy Butler), which amends Civil Code Section 1368 regarding documents to be provided the buyer in an escrow, was sponsored by the California Association of Realtors and initially sought to place a cap on fees that may be charged by management companies and others who provide documents…
By David Swedelson, Condo lawyer and HOA attorney; Senior Partner SwedelsonGottlieb Despite significant industry opposition, the Governor has signed into law amendments to the Davis Stirling Act and specifically Civil Code Section 1363.05, also known as the Common Interest Development Open Meeting Act. Here is the story of how this…
By David C. Swedelson, Esq.; SwedelsonGottlieb Community Association Attorneys SwedelsonGottlieb has been responding to a flood of inquiries regarding the recently chaptered California SB 150, a bill which amends Sections 1368 and 1373 of the Davis-Stirling Act and adds a new Civil Code Section to the Act affecting certain rental…
Posted by David C. Swedelson, Partner, SwedelsonGottlieb; Community Association Legal Expert With the proliferation of electric vehicles comes a new law that limits and restricts California community associations’ ability to prohibit an owner from installing their own electric charging station. On July 25, Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 209, which…
Senate Majority Leader Ellen M. Corbett (D-San Leandro) has introduced SB 561 which will, if signed into law, make some fairly significant changes to the law impacting how California community associations collect delinquent assessments. Senator Corbett has been quoted as saying that “[u]nscrupulous debt collectors are increasing the amount owed…
We were advised that the California Senate Transportation & Housing Committee is prepared to vote on SB 563 (DeSaulnier) that deals with Community Association Board Meetings. We encourage you to contact the members of this Committee and tell them to vote “NO” on SB 563 which will, if made law,…
By David C. Swedelson, SwedelsonGottlieb Partner There was an interesting article on new legislation in the March 6, 2011 edition of the Los Angeles Times about the 2,323 new bills that have been introduced in the California legislature, and this includes several that impact California community associations (more on that…
CAR has let it be known that it plans to introduce a bill in 2011 that will effectively restrict or limit the fees that community association management companies now charge for such things as ownership transfers and compliance with Civil Code Section 1368. This is likely going to be a…
Karen Conlon from the California Association of Community Managers (CACM) reports that in this most recent legislative session, Senate Bill 294 was introduced for the purpose of consolidating and downsizing the numerous boards, commissions, etc. that exist in California. To protect the CACM manager certification standards in the Business &…