HOA Law Blog
Condominium Balcony, Stair and Walkway Inspections and Repairs: January 1, 2025 State-Mandated Deadline.
Background
On January 1, 2020, the State legislature added California Civil Code § 5551 to require condominium associations with certain elevated exterior elements (“EEEs”) such as decks, balconies, walkways, stairs, and related railings to be inspected by January 1, 2025. This new law is often referred to as the “Balcony Bill” or SB326 as that was the bill number before being passed into law in year 2019. The cause for this legislation was due to the collapse of a balcony that caused several deaths and so the purpose of these inspections is to make sure EEEs are safe to use and if unsafe, limit access until such EEEs are repaired.
As it does just about every year, the California Legislature has made changes to the law impacting community association’s statewide. This article covers those changes effective January 1, 2023 and other recent changes in the law that are worthy of being mentioned, as they may apply to your California community association. We have included examples of the application of the new law.
It is fall, and for most California community associations, it is budget season and boards and managers are in the process of preparing budgets for the 2022 fiscal year. Along with the next fiscal year’s budget, boards and managers need to be thinking of all of the disclosures that California law requires be made. That is why SwedelsonGottlieb annually publish this Checklist. The good news is that there are no major changes in the law relating to disclosures. But that does not mean that there are no other issues or disclosure requirements to consider. 
SwedelsonGottlieb annually updates and publishes its Disclosure and Notice Checklist as a resource for Managers and Board Members of California Community Associations. The updated Checklist is 14 pages (there are a lot of things that California community associations are required to give notice of or disclose) and sets out what disclosures and notices California community associations are to provide to homeowners, when and how they are to be provided, as well as other considerations. Included is information regarding the Code requirements for the Annual Budget Report, the Annual Policy Statement, Fiscal Year End Disclosures, and other Additional Disclosures/Notices. We have included information regarding the recent changes to Civil Code Section 4041 relating to the solicitation of owner mailing addresses, etc. and the required New Management Disclosures. 
As we previously reported, (
On August 12, 2015, Governor Brown signed AB 596, which adds the following two new required disclosures to the Annual Budget Report for California condominium associations (this does not include planned developments or other common interest developments).