HOA Law Blog

(a) Not later than 30 days prior to the filing of any civil action by the association against the declarant or other developer of a common interest development for alleged damage to the common areas, alleged damage to the separate interests that the association is obligated to maintain or repair, or alleged damage to the separate interests that arises out of, or is integrally related to, damage to the common areas or separate interests that the association is obligated to maintain or repair, the board of directors of the association shall provide a written notice to each member of the association who appears on the records of the association when the notice is provided. This notice shall specify all of the following:

(1) That a meeting will take place to discuss problems that may lead to the filing of a civil action.

(2) The options, including civil actions, that are available to address the problems.

An association established to manage a common interest development has standing to institute, defend, settle, or intervene in litigation, arbitration, mediation, or administrative proceedings in its own name as the real party in interest and without joining with it the individual owners of the common interest development, in matters pertaining to the following:

(a) Enforcement of the governing documents.

(b) Damage to the common area.

(a) Any rule or regulation of an association that arbitrarily or unreasonably restricts an owner’s ability to market his or her interest in a common interest development is void.

(b) No association may adopt, enforce, or otherwise impose any rule or regulation that does either of the following:

(1) Imposes an assessment or fee in connection with the marketing of an owner’s interest in an amount that exceeds the association’s actual or direct costs. That assessment or fee shall be deemed to violate the limitation set forth in Section 1366.1.

If it is determined through dispute resolution pursuant to the association’s “meet and confer” program required in Article 5 (commencing with Section 1363.810) of Chapter 4 or alternative dispute resolution with a neutral third party pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 1369.510) of Chapter 7 that an association has recorded a lien for a delinquent assessment in error, the association shall promptly reverse all late charges, fees, interest, attorney’s fees, costs of collection, costs imposed for the notice prescribed in subdivision (a) of Section 1367.1, and costs of recordation and release of the lien authorized under subdivision (b) of Section 1367.4, and pay all costs related to the dispute resolution or alternative dispute resolution.

(a) Notwithstanding any law or any provisions of the governing documents to the contrary, this section shall apply to debts for assessments that arise on and after January 1, 2006.

(b) An association that seeks to collect delinquent regular or special assessments of an amount less than one thousand eight hundred dollars ($1,800), not including any accelerated assessments, late charges, fees and costs of collection, attorney’s fees, or interest, may not collect that debt through judicial or nonjudicial foreclosure, but may attempt to collect or secure that debt in any of the following ways:

(1) By a civil action in small claims court, pursuant to Chapter 5.5 (commencing with Section 116.110) of Title 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure. An association that chooses to proceed by an action in small claims court, and prevails, may enforce the judgment as permitted under Article 8 (commencing with Section 116.810) of Title 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The amount that may be recovered in small claims court to collect upon a debt for delinquent assessments may not exceed the jurisdictional limits of the small claims court and shall be the sum of the following:

(a) A regular or special assessment and any late charges, reasonable fees and costs of collection, reasonable attorney’s fees, if any, and interest, if any, as determined in accordance with Section 1366, shall be a debt of the owner of the separate interest at the time the assessment or other sums are levied. At least 30 days prior to recording a lien upon the separate interest of the owner of record to collect a debt that is past due under this subdivision, the association shall notify the owner of record in writing by certified mail of the following:

(1) A general description of the collection and lien enforcement procedures of the association and the method of calculation of the amount, a statement that the owner of the separate interest has the right to inspect the association records, pursuant to Section 8333 of the Corporations Code, and the following statement in 14-point boldface type, if printed, or in capital letters, if typed: “IMPORTANT NOTICE: IF YOUR SEPARATE INTEREST IS PLACED IN FORECLOSURE BECAUSE YOU ARE BEHIND IN YOUR ASSESSMENTS, IT MAY BE SOLD WITHOUT COURT ACTION.”

(2) An itemized statement of the charges owed by the owner, including items on the statement which indicate the amount of any delinquent assessments, the fees and reasonable costs of collection, reasonable attorney’s fees, any late charges, and interest, if any.

(a) A regular or special assessment and any late charges, reasonable costs of collection, and interest, as assessed in accordance with Section 1366, shall be a debt of the owner of the separate interest at the time the assessment or other sums are levied. Before an association may place a lien upon the separate interest of an owner to collect a debt which is past due under this subdivision, the association shall notify the owner in writing by certified mail of the fee and penalty procedures of the association, provide an itemized statement of the charges owed by the owner, including items on the statement which indicate the assessments owed, any late charges and the method of calculation, any attorney’s fees, and the collection practices used by the association, including the right of the association to the reasonable costs of collection. In addition, any payments toward that debt shall first be applied to the assessments owed, and only after the principal owed is paid in full shall the payments be applied to interest or collection expenses.

(b) The amount of the assessment, plus any costs of collection, late charges, and interest assessed in accordance with Section 1366, shall be a lien on the owner’s interest in the common interest development from and after the time the association causes to be recorded with the county recorder of the county in which the separate interest is located, a notice of delinquent assessment, which shall state the amount of the assessment and other sums imposed in accordance with Section 1366, a legal description of the owner’s interest in the common interest development against which the assessment and other sums are levied, the name of the record owner of the owner’s interest in the common interest development against which the lien is imposed, and, in order for the lien to be enforced by nonjudicial foreclosure as provided in subdivision (e) the name and address of the trustee authorized by the association to enforce the lien by sale. The notice of delinquent assessment shall be signed by the person designated in the declaration or by the association for that purpose, or if no one is designated, by the president of the association, and mailed in the manner set forth in Section 2924b, to all record owners of the owner’s interest in the common interest development no later than 10 calendar days after recordation. Upon payment of the sums specified in the notice of delinquent assessment, the association shall cause to be recorded a further notice stating the satisfaction and release of the lien thereof. A monetary penalty imposed by the association as a means of reimbursing the association for costs incurred by the association in the repair of damage to common areas and facilities for which the member or the member’s guests or tenants were responsible may become a lien against the member’s separate interest enforceable by the sale of the interest under Sections 2924, 2924b, and 2924c, provided the authority to impose a lien is set forth in the governing documents. It is the intent of the Legislature not to contravene Section 2792.26 of Title 10 of the California Code of Regulations, as that section appeared on January 1, 1996, for associations of subdivisions that are being sold under authority of a subdivision public report, pursuant to Part 2 (commencing with Section 11000) of Division 4 of the Business and Professions Code.

(c) Except as indicated in subdivision (b), a monetary penalty imposed by the association as a disciplinary measure for failure of a member to comply with the governing instruments, except for the late payments, may not be characterized nor treated in the governing instruments as an assessment which may become a lien against the member’s subdivision interest enforceable by the sale of the interest under Sections 2924, 2924b, and 2924c.

(a) In order to facilitate the collection of regular assessments, special assessments, transfer fees, and similar charges, the board of directors of any association is authorized to record a statement or amended statement identifying relevant information for the association. This statement may include any or all of the following information:

(1) The name of the association as shown in the conditions, covenants, and restrictions or the current name of the association, if different.

(2) The name and address of a managing agent or treasurer of the association or other individual or entity authorized to receive assessments and fees imposed by the association.

An association shall not impose or collect an assessment or fee that exceeds the amount necessary to defray the costs for which it is levied.