HOA Law Blog

We have all heard stories about accidental e-mails. How about accidental voice mails? I guess it can happen. The Los Angeles Daily Journal reported that a lawsuit is moving forward based on a voicemail that was accidentally left on an attorney's system. The article states: "The three men thought they had hung up after leaving a message for one of Jasmine's in-house lawyers, but the voicemail continued to record as they openly discussed the theft of trade secrets on speakerphone. Marvell fought all the way to the California Supreme Court to get the voicemail erased based on attorney-client privilege, but the court punted the case back to the 6th District, allowing to stand its ruling that the lawyers waived the privilege by discussing possible fraud."

If you are discussing confidential matters, it is best to make sure that you keep it confidential. Be careful out there.
Click here to read the article

By: David C. Swedelson, Esq.,
Senior Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb

Community managers have been telling us over the last year that much of their time has been consumed by matters relating to delinquent assessments. And they are not just referring to the basic mechanics of the collection process. They are also referring to the many questions that come up, the calls and emails from owners and board members, the foreclosure notices, the bankruptcies, and the list goes on. They lament that this is taking them away from doing their core responsibilities relating to maintenance and repair, etc.

Managers and board members alike are concerned about the impact that this recession is having on the communities they govern or manage. They are concerned about the deficit in the budget that is caused by their associations not receiving all of the revenue that was expected when the annual budget was prepared and the resulting lack of money to do all of the maintenance and repair that is required.

Because of the impact the recession is having on our client base, I have been monitoring articles and reports from experts regarding when we might reach the end of what is now being called the “Great Recession.”

Continue reading " IS THE “GREAT RECESSION” OVER YET? FOR CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS, NOT BY A LONG SHOT! " »

By Joan E. Lewis-Heard, Esq.
Senior Associate; SwedelsonGottlieb

For those community associations whose CC&Rs provide for assignment of rents from a tenant in the event an association owner who is renting their unit or home is delinquent in the payment of assessments, an association may collect the rent directly from the tenant to pay delinquent assessments.

If done properly, this can be done without a court order or the expense of a court appointed receiver. In order to do this, the following is required: 1) the CC&Rs must have an assignment of rents clause; 2) a lien for the delinquent assessments should be recorded to secure the debt; and 3) a statutory Demand to Pay Rent to a Party Other than Landlord, pursuant to Section 2938 of the Civil Code, is required to be delivered by mail or by hand to each tenant of the property and the landlord/owner. Follow this link for the required text of the demand to pay rent to party other than landlord.

Continue reading " How to Perfect an Assignment of Rents Clause in CC&Rs " »

We see it on the web all the time, articles highly critical of politicians, actors, pop stars and others. Then come the highly inflammatory comments from readers using anonymous names. There are websites where you can critique restaurants, shops, services, etc. Sometimes these criticizers write some of the nastiest things. We are now seeing this type of nastiness on websites set up by disgruntled community association owners.

I recently read an article on the internet that addressed this very phenomena, calling it webtribution. Click here to read the article.

The author comments on people who write nasty reviews for a restaurant or book, “not because they dislike the product, but because they dislike the person who created it. Or signing up an acquaintance for email advertising lists. (I can assure you that if your inbox suddenly fills up with ads for male-enhancement treatments, someone is out to get you.)”

The author asks why we are not mature enough to “resist the temptation to seek Webtribution—even if it seems easy and (we hope) untraceable?
It's simple: The Internet turns us into a mob.“

The author quotes the director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (who knew there was such a Center) and professor of psychology at Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater, Mass. "We know that in a mob people will do socially unacceptable things they would never otherwise do." Her answer: "They feel invisible, so they cede responsibility."

The article states that psychologists have actually coined a term for this: the "online disinhibition effect," suggesting that they divide this type of behavior into two categories: "benign disinhibition" (which is what happens when someone says something private they might not have shared publicly with many people offline) and "toxic disinhibition" (expressing rudeness, anger, criticism or hate).

And, the author suggests that we need not look further than the websites that cater to retribution “if you want to see what toxic disinhibition looks like.”

Toxic disinhibition. . .Who knew?!