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 David Swedelson, Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys I recently read a newspaper article about Justin Bieber and the problems he is allegedly creating for his homeowners association in Calabasas, California. Homeowners are apparently unhappy that he is racing his Ferrari around the association’s streets, and they threatened to…
By David Swedelson, Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys Does your community association have disabled parking spaces? Maybe I should ask if the association ever had these spaces. There is no police force that goes out and checks. But we know that over time, some boards have “converted” what were…
By David Swedelson, SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys Is your condo association exclusively a commercial or industrial development? Surprise — as of January 1, 2014, the Davis-Stirling Act no longer applies to your association. Your association is now regulated by the new Commercial and Industrial Common Interest Development Act (CICIDA), Civil…
By Sandra L. Gottlieb, Managing Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys Wage & hour lawsuits are being filed with increasing regularity, and community associations, as employers, are not exempt. Unfortunately, some of our association clients have already been sued on wage and hour claims, and it appears that the risk…
By David Swedelson, Senior Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys We know that most of you are likely overwhelmed with the new Davis-Stirling Act. But there was other new legislation that impacts many California community associations. Minimum Wage For example, we know that many of you employ minimum wage workers,…
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 and Cyrus Koochek, Community Association Attorneys at SwedelsonGottlieb Since the old Davis-Stirling Act was made into law in 1985, there has been a small debate over whether an owner or their association is responsible for temporary relocation costs incurred when owners in a common interest development are…