Posted on Wed, Dec 19, 2012 @ 07:19 AM
Before living in a Condo I lived in a Mobilehome Park for 10 years. I find that Condo Associations are similar to Mobilehome Park Owners and abuse the hell out of Homeowners just as much as Park Owners and Condo homeowners have less protection (Cost wise)than Mobilehome owners, especially low income people who do not have the funds to hire a lawyer and go to court to protect your rights per the Civil Code (1350-1378)also known as the Davis Stirling act. Which will be covered by a new civil code 4000 --? (AB 805) People in MHP's have the State Ombudsmen plus state and local officials in the Housing Industry to help. Condo Homeowners seem to be on their own and no funds or state or local help for low income Homeowners. We are unable to change our Bylaws and have not had a Homeowners meeting in over 8 years because of the Quorum requirement. The present Board is locked in for life. We need State law changes to the Civil Codes such as Board of Directors will be nominated and elected like any city election, state or federal election. Also California needs an ombudsmen at the state level for Homeowners to file complains against HOA's. Set this up under state Housing and enforced by the Attorney General or??? Also hold city wide,county wide and state wide regional convention type meetings at least every two years to review HOA's and Homeowners areas of mutual concern. Maybe even charge a small fee to attend these meetings. milt
Posted on Mon, Dec 26, 2011 @ 07:41 AM
I would like to know how a condo owner in California like myself can obtain other owners/ investors contact info. Doesn't the HOA and Property Management have these records and if so what are the laws pertaining to openly allowing this info to other owners/investors. I believe our HOA President has this info but isn't willing to divulge this. PLease help.
Posted on Mon, Nov 07, 2011 @ 05:54 AM
Davis-Stirling says that board members can hold multiple offices, and they give some examples such as President/Secretary, Secretary/Treasurer, etc. My question is, what would the etc constitute? What other combinations are legal under Davis-Stirling and/or California Corporations Code? As an example, can one be both President and Treasurer?
Posted on Tue, Nov 01, 2011 @ 06:48 AM
Does anyone know condo law in California? We wanted to charge a fee to any owner who rents out his unit but someone has said this is illegal in California. Some of our units are rented to university students. This increases the water use, for one thing, because they have their friends over to take showers and do laundry. They also break the parking, noise and pool use rules which puts a burden on the board to enforce the rules. Any help would be appreciated. I can't find a citation regarding this law. I know several condos do charge fees. Does anyone have any experience with this?
Posted on Tue, Aug 16, 2011 @ 07:01 AM
JP Chase owns one of our units and has turned away potential buyers with switch and bate tactics, like mandating our condo association becomes FHA certified (which we succeeded in doing), then pulling the rug from under the poor citizen applying for the loan. After the closing process succeeded, JP Chase said, "We want to auction this property off, instead." This is not legal and I have spoken to the applicant. Like any individual, he fears retribution if he sues his bank. JP Chase has managed to hold on to this property for 3 years now, switching and bating every new applicant, along the way. Is this legal? We are a small Association, FHA approved with 11 owners as residents. We have an excellent Board (I am VP of Board) however, we have never used an attorney in 30 years. This situation has never surfaced before. Are big banks this greedy? Our Board meeting is Tuesday and I fear an investor will purchase without notifying us. Can investors do this?
Posted on Sun, Aug 07, 2011 @ 08:00 AM
Can a California HOA require one homeowner to pay more than the other homeowners? I live in a small community HOA that also has it's own small water district. The HOA has a 30'x 30' easement on my property for a water storage tank which services the entire community. The HOA installed two auxiliary tanks that exceed the easement. I pay the mortgage and property taxes on the lot whose sole use is for community water. The HOA also wants me to pay full dues as well. I tried to negotiate with them about the inequity of my paying more than any other resident and their response was to place a lien on my property. Now they are threatening to turn off the water and deny HOA snow plowing. Can they do this? Isn't it illegal to make one homeowner pay more for water than another?
Posted on Sat, Jul 16, 2011 @ 09:58 AM
I live in a 32 unit bldg; it is 30 years old. Due to termites, all the common area surfaces were replaced, including decks, railings, etc; the siding was replaced with Hardee board type material. After the work was finished, we were "special assessed" about $30K. I would like to know if I can claim it on my taxes - either state and/or federal. And if so, how do I do it? I live in California.
Posted on Fri, Jul 01, 2011 @ 08:14 AM
I live in a 10 unit condo in California, we have for years needed to do dry rot and termite repairs and currently this is underway again. In our condo reserve we are scheduled to replace decks at 2 units next year, however work is going on at one of these units and the homeowner offered to loan the condo association the money to install the decks this year and avoid having another set of contractors come in and be able to use the existing scaffolding. Is there any reason not to accept this offer?
Posted on Thu, Jun 23, 2011 @ 07:35 AM
We live in a 5 unit Townhome property with two units in the front, and three in the back. A common driveway to all the garages separate the front and back buildings. Recently a number of families have started to use the driveway as a play area for their young children. They set up safety cones to warn incoming divers that their kids are at play. They supervise them. So far, no problems. There are two concerns. First is safety. It now becomes incumbent on the incoming drivers to avoid the kids. Drivers must wait until the aria is clear before opening their garage doors and proceeding. Second, with cement and stucco on all sides creating a echo chamber, the otherwise normal sound of kids playing is magnified. Closing windows does not help. I work out of my home sometimes find it unprofessional to be on the phone with clients. Do owners have the right to use a common driveway as a playground for their kids?
Posted on Tue, Mar 01, 2011 @ 08:47 AM
I am a buyer in California interested in purchasing a condo with delinquent
HOA. The condo complex consists of both residential and retail units. The original builder (who still owns the retail units) filed for bankruptcy in 2009, so all the retail units' HOA remained unpaid. First of all, I am not an expert in bankruptcy law, so I don't know how long it will take and what would happen if those units stay delinquent for a long time. What would be the risk for me as a buyer? And would I be able to get a lender who is willing to lend in this situation?