HOA Law Blog
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 2016. Assembly Member Norma Torres (Dem, Pomona; she chairs the Assembly Housing Committee) authored this bill and her press release is set out below.
AB 2016 relates to the notice that can be recorded on a property in a community association that tells a foreclosure trustee that they are required to provide certain information to the association. This bill will allow California community associations to record a single “blanket” recordation for all homes or units at an association rather then the one notice per property under prior law.
The recorded notice requests a foreclosure trustee to mail a notice to the association of:
1) The name and mailing address of the successor in interest that acquired title to a property that was foreclosed on; and
2) The date the sale of the property took place.
While there is not much an association can do if a foreclosure trustee fails to comply, the hope is that when they do provide the information requested, that will make finding the new owner easier and sooner for purposes of giving them notice of the assessments and other obligations and of course will hopefully make collecting assessments easier as well. This new legislation takes effect January 1, 2011.
AB 2016 is a follow up bill to Senate Bill 1511 (Ducheny, Dem, San Diego) from 2007 that allows California community associations to find out who the new owner is sooner then was possible previously.
Below is the the press release from the author of this bill, Assembly Member Norma Torres.
PRESS RELEASE Torres Legislation to Cut Government Red Tape Signed by Governor New law will help home owner associations reduce paperwork and costs to acquire foreclosed property information
SACRAMENTO – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed into law AB 2016 by Assemblymember Norma J. Torres (D- Pomona) that will streamline the process by which home owner associations can record requests and acquire information on foreclosed property owners. “The foreclosure crisis in the Inland Empire has been devastating enough,” said Torres. “The last thing we need is unnecessary red tape to burden homeowners. I am pleased to have the Governor join our efforts to make government work better for people,” she continued.
When a home in a community interest development (CID) is foreclosed, the home owner associations (HOA) must determine who the trustee is so that they can collect assessments from them. Legislation from 2007 changed the law to allow HOAs to record a notice on a property requesting a foreclosure trustee mail a notice to the association of the: 1) name and mailing address of the successor in interest that acquired title to a property within the HOA due to foreclosure; and 2) the date the sale of the property took place.
AB 2016 clarifies this process by allowing HOAs to record one notice against all the properties in their HOA as a group. The county assessors have interpreted SB 1511 to require that an association record a document on each individual home, versus on the entire association in one action. “It may not seem like a lot, but the current process is expensive and time consuming for home owner associations. This new law will correct that problem,” said Torres.