By David Swedelson, SwedelsonGottlieb Partner, Condo Lawyer and HOA Attorney These days, going “green” is all the rage. So, it is no surprise that lately we are getting more and more inquiries from boards wondering how they should respond when homeowners request authorization to install solar panels. If the owner…
It is mid-October, and many California community associations and managers are busy working on their 2011 budgets that will need to be sent out by the end of November. In addition to the budget, however, there are several other documents and disclosures that are required by California statutes to be…
SwedelsonGottlieb Senior Partner Sandra Gottlieb and Karen Conlon, President and CEO of the California Association of Community Managers (CACM) have written an article providing community association boards of directors with practical tools designed to identify and implement ethical value systems for their association board members. These tools will enable board…
“Most successful businesses have embraced the concept of strategic planning, and the results attained drive the direction, resources, and decisions made in the daily course of doing business. It guides the leadership and unites the employees and partners through common goals and objectives.” This is the introduction to an article…
So, you are probably asking yourself what a lawsuit against Nordstrom (a department store) has to do with community associations. Plenty. Let me explain. In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal determined that the trial court had NOT made a mistake when it granted summary judgment in favor of…
By David Swedelson, Esq.; Senior Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb This article follows an earlier post entitled To Foreclose Or Not To Foreclose; That Seems To Be The Question. We had hoped that the economy would have improved so we would not have to revisit the issue. However, board members and managers…
A recent column in the Los Angeles Times addressed an interesting issue regarding assessment collection on units or lots owned by soldiers who are serving in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere. The article referenced a community association in Texas that proceeded to foreclose on its lien recorded against a home owned…
The Los Angeles Times publishes a column entitled Rent Watch. Recently, the column addressed a situation where a tenant maintained in that tenants apartment a seeing eye dog that barked at night bothering the neighbor(s). The answer applies to community associations as well as rental units. Follow this link to…
September 22, 2010 marked the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. This holiday starts on a different date between late September to late October each year and has agricultural orgins, celebrating the harvest. If it is Sukkot, we can be assured of getting calls asking us what to do…
An interesting trial court decision was reported in the Daily Journal, a newspaper for attorneys. The article dealt with a the trial judge’s decision in a lawsuit between two owners in a Newport Beach gated zero lot line community regarding a purported landscaping encroachment. A zero lot line refers to…