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 withhold payment of their assessments unless and until their board did something about the situation. That would be a mistake for those owners or any owner who has a dispute with their association, because they simply do not have the right to withhold payment of their assessments as leverage to get their association to do what they want.
Owners often make this threat. Usually, it is when they have suffered damage in their unit, or they want maintenance done and they think that the association has not responded as quickly or as well as they would like, or with the answers they want. These owners think they are tenants, and the association is their landlord, and that gives them the right to withhold the only income the association receives to pay for maintenance, utilities, insurance, management-and the list goes on. That belief is wrong and has gotten some owners into trouble.
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