Condominium's and other HOA's have changes under SB 528

Condominium Homeowners Associations and common Interest Developments are affected by SB 528

One of the new bills that went into effect this year in California ( SB 528) affects common interest developments ( CID’s) and the homeowners associations’ meetings. CIDs range in size from 4 to 27,000 units. These developments include condominiums, planned unit developments ( PUD’s), community apartment projects, and housing cooperatives. There are more than 41,000 CIDs in the state, which make up over four million housing units, which is about one-quarter of the state's housing stock.

Any member of the association (owner of a unit or home) has the right to attend the meetings. While there are some portions of the meeting that are not available for all to attend, such as executive meetings, now any owner can attend. The elected officials of the HOA can discuss in private sessions, things like contracts, disciplinary matters, litigation issues, and other related matters that may need confidentiality. The purpose of this bill was to provide transparency so that members weren’t sandbagged with board approvals on topics which they had no way of knowing were to be brought up

The HOA is required to post the meeting time 4 days in advance and must include an agenda. Generally speaking in these meetings, one could only discuss what is on topic as posted on the agenda, unless there is some emergency item brought up.

The exceptions to these limitations are as follows:

• An owner of a unit who is not a board member may speak of non agenda items
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• Board members or their agents may address questions or issues raised by an owner who is a non board member
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• Board members provide resources of a factual nature to the board or its’ agent
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• Board members request a report at a future meeting from an agent of the board
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• Board members direct an agent to perform an administrative task, such as what many real estate property management companies provide
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• The boards two-thirds majority vote concludes and issue that is an emergency topic

In these cases, an agent is someone acting for another, not a real estate agent.

Most of the HOA’s use property managers to manage the dues that need to be collected, pay the vendors like landscapers, PG&E, etc that need to be paid. The also attend to meetings and keep the board current on laws such as these the come into being. Santa Cruz County has many different smaller HOA associations’ so the need to be updated is important as the liability can be extreme for a small one.

As an agent, the property management companies are oftentimes a burden to deal with. When one is going to sell or buy, they usually charge $150 or more to copy the CC&R’s, meeting minutes which must be kept, and other related documents.These things should be easily available and in my mind should be available on line. As board members, they choose who the want to work with, reviewing bids by these firms to provide the necessary manpower and administrative functions that are necessary for most to function.

As a buyer one wants to know what the current expenses are, reserves, and minutes of what is of current concern. There might be things such as impending litigation or an increase of assessment that may be enough for a buyer to shy away from making a purchase. So having timely and accurate information is important for buyers and sellers alike.

Just like voting, it is important to participate to make yourself heard. Participation in the association that you live in, will give you a say on how the dues are spent. You can help choose what projects get slated for renovation, or additional beneficial improvements. Having some say in one’s life is a good thing, so join your board and give your valuable input.

If you want further information on this or on some of the condominiums in Santa Cruz County, I’ll tell you the ones I like best.

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