HOA Law Blog

By David C. Swedelson, Partner, SwedelsonGottlieb

With record rainfalls in December 2010, and a rainy season that stretched into March 2011, California community associations and their management have been kept busy responding to reports of leaks and “water intrusion” (when the water from any source intrudes into a unit or home). And as expected, we have received many phone calls and emails asking who is responsible to pay for the cost of repair, who makes what repairs, and is there any insurance to cover the cost of all or any part of the repair work?

Continue reading " There Was Lots Of Rain And Lots Of Leaks; Who Pays For The Damage? " »

New embezzlement story out of Las Vegas. The Nevada Attorney General's Office, with the assistance of the FBI, served a warrant at the Paradise Spa Homeowners Association on Las Vegas Boulevard South near Serene Avenue.

Owners allege the association's board embezzled more than $1 million of their money.

The news story reports that several units were destroyed by two fires in 2009 and 2010, and the insurance company paid $842,000 but nothing has been repaired.

According to resident Bill O'Donnell, a former Nevada state senator, the HOA had nearly $1 million in cash and HOA fees that have gone missing. He appealed to the Attorney General's office to take action about a month ago.

Follow this link to watch video news coverage of the story.

By David C. Swedelson, Partner, Swedelson & Gottlieb
This article was prepared for a recent program that David spoke at dealing with rule enforcement.

There is no disputing the fact that serving on the board at any community association is time consuming and can often become frustrating. You have a multitude of issues competing for your attention — whether it's adopting the budget, monitoring performance and renewing service contracts, insurance renewals, supervision/hiring and retention of employees or collecting delinquent assessments. In addition to running the association’s business, board members are also faced with the task of enforcing rules and regulations.

Continue reading " Community Association Rule Enforcement; Not An Easy Task, But It Needs to Be Done " »

Post by David Swedelson, Partner, Swedelson & Gottlieb

We are often asked to assist California community associations dealing with unauthorized homeowner commercial activities when prohibited by the association’s governing documents. Usually, the issue is whether the commercial activity will or is impairing the residential character of the community.

So, for example, we have been called upon to deal with a hair stylist, an employment headhunter, a psychologist, and other service-oriented businesses that had a number of clients and/or employees coming into a gated community or locked building. Once, we dealt with a refrigerator repair service where customers were coming into the association to drop off or pick up their refrigerator. Another time, it was an auto repair business being run out of a garage. And of course, lately we have been dealing with more then one marijuana growing facility. You get the picture.

But a lemonade stand? Heck, I remember having one of these in front of my house growing up, but I did not live in a community association, at least not then.

But consider the community in Palm Beach County, Florida that forced the closure of a lemonade stand that was being operated by neighborhood children. Here is the video of the news story that aired on television:

There is no question that the restrictions in any community association’s CC&Rs are an important part of community association living. Many owners choose to move into a particular association based in part on the restrictions, and they expect their association to enforce them. Owners do not want to see a car repair service, a burger stand or some other purely commercial activity taking place in front of or out of a home in their community of homes or condos, especially when that business will impair the residential character of the community.

But what about a lemonade stand? How about the sale of Girl Scout cookies? Is the lemonade stand really going to set a precedent? I don’t think so.

What do you think? Did this Florida community go too far?
Send your comments to David Swedelson, dcs@sghoalaw.com

Blog post by David Swedelson, Partner, SwedelsonGottlieb

As we all know, the Great Recession has changed the way we live and do business. Getting a home loan is not easy these days, and the federal government is instituting some pretty major changes to the mortgage finance system. This is complicated by the fact that regulators and legislators do not really understand community associations.

Because the decisions that Congress and federal agencies make now will impact how or if owners will be able to get loans, CAI has developed Mortgage Matters, “a comprehensive response to mortgage challenges at the federal level.” CAI states that “[t]he common thread for Mortgage Matters is to ensure that potential homebuyers have access to affordable mortgage products and that the criteria used to determine eligibility for loans in community associations are realistic measures of an association’s financial health.”

CAI wants Mortgage Matters to be a hub for information on how the rules governing mortgages are changing, what CAI is doing to address these issues, informative webinars, etc.

Follow this link for more information about CAI’s Mortgage Matters Program.