HOA Law Blog

Blog post by David Swedelson, Condo Lawyer, HOA Attorney and head of SwedelsonGottlieb’s Litigation Team

Over the years a number of our condo and homeowner association clients have suffered the loss of homes or units as a result of fires. Some of these fires resulted from smoking in bed, a couple of them resulted from propane tanks leaking or exploding, some from clogged dryer vents, bad appliances, and many from brush fires. In fact, I just recently completed a trial involving a dispute over the design of an owner's proposed new home that the homeowner wanted to build after their original home was burned to the ground as result of a brush fire. That fire alone destroyed their home and significantly damaged eight others. Many of these fires could have been prevented.

Continue reading "Are the Homes At Your HOA Fire Safe?" »

By David Swedelson, Condo Attorney, HOA Lawyer and Legal Expert at SwedelsonGottlieb

There have been a number of articles written over the last few years regarding the fact that municipalities do not have the money or resources to repair sidewalks broken up by tree roots. There had been some programs in some California cities that would reimburse homeowners up to one half the cost of repairing sidewalks that have been damaged by tree roots. But as a result of the weakened economy, these programs are not funded, and there is no money to reimburse owners.

Many associations are concerned about injuries that may occur as a result of heavily damaged sidewalks adjacent to these associations’ common area. Community associations don't like taking on responsibility for damage that they did not cause, especially when many associations have not increased assessments or maintenance fees and are really limping along financially as a result of the Great Recession.

Unfortunately, many associations are looking at potential liability for trip and fall injuries suffered as a result of the broken up sidewalks even if the association does not own the sidewalk or the trees that caused the concrete to become damaged.

Continue reading "California Community Associations May be Liable for Injuries Suffered in Trip and Fall Accidents on City Sidewalks" »

Blog Article by David Swedelson, SwedelsonGottlieb Senior Partner, Condo Lawyer and Community Association Attorney

Resulting in one of the most important common interest development cases decided by the California Supreme Court, Mrs. Gertrude Lamden disagreed with her homeowners association’s board’s decision to address a termite problem by spot treating the affected areas rather than tenting and fumigating the entire building.

Upon learning of a termite problem in the association’s common area, the board carefully investigated and considered its options, taking into account the expense, inconvenience to members, likelihood of effectiveness, and a number of other factors, and decided to spot treat the affected areas. After that failed to eradicate the termites, Mrs. Lamden sued the association, requesting a court order requiring that the association fumigate her building.

Continue reading "Termites, Business Judgment Rule and Second Guessing Community Association Boards of Directors—Lamden v. La Jolla Shores Clubdominium Homeowners Association " »

By David Swedelson, California Condo Attorney and HOA Lawyer, Partner SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys

Many community associations continue to suffer from delinquent assessments; many owners are still living in their units or homes not having paid their lender/bank or their association assessments for 2 to 3 years. Many associations are not doing enough to collect those delinquent assessments and are leaving money on the table. At many associations, the senior foreclosed, and the associations have taken no action to collect believing that such efforts would be futile. Maybe yes, maybe no. We spoke about this new community association paradigm here.

There is another consequence of the Great Recession that will likely impact many California community associations in the future; many of these associations are deferring maintenance because they don't have enough income to pay for the regular expenses, much less for extraordinary expenses such as painting. And many are not funding reserves!

Continue reading "Deferred Maintenance: Another Consequence Of The Great Recession" »

By David Swedelson, senior partner, SwedelsonGottlieb, California condo lawyer and HOA attorney

"Homeowner Associations Are Not Required to Create Reserve Accounts?" This was the title of a recent Los Angeles Times column on community association law written by two individuals who I do not believe are really community association legal experts (one is an attorney, and the other went to law school, so why the Times has them writing this column is not understood). Their lack of HOA legal expertise is evidenced by their inane and often incorrect responses to the questions they are responding to.

I often question if the questions are real, as in over 25 years of representing California community associations, I have never encountered or even heard about some of the fact situations that they claim they are responding to. Other times, I just chuckle and shake my head (literally), as I cannot believe their responses to the questions. Usually, they are very cynical, and typically they suggest that owners sue their condo or HOA association and its board. More often than not, I am concerned that owners at community associations are reading the incorrect information that they publish and are relying on the poor advice.

Continue reading "Are California Homeowner Associations Required to Create Reserve Accounts?" »

(and why condominium associations should be responsible for waterproofing on balcony decks)

By David C. Swedelson, Condo Lawyer and HOA legal expert; Senior Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb

I know that many boards contemplate the idea of making owners responsible for the waterproofing on the balconies or decks in condominiums (and yes, generally the association is responsible for repairing or replacing what is considered common area waterproofing). Bad idea. The reality is that owners will not do what is required, and the leaks will damage the common area and other units. One association client learned this the hard way. And while the end result was good for the association and we consider this an excellent result, the road was rocky and stressful. And the association had to finance our fees and the costs.

It all started with that association amending and restating its Governing Documents (through another firm). As a part of that process, their former attorney suggested that they make the homeowners responsible for the maintenance, repair and replacement of the waterproofing on each homeowner’s exclusive use balcony decks. Many associations tell me they would like to see the homeowners responsible for the waterproofing, as they claim that the association does not want to have to save or expend the money for that work. However, in practice this is not a good idea.

Continue reading "How One Association's $30,000 Mold Water Damage Claim Turned into a $169,000 Arbitration Award" »

By David C. Swedelson, Senior Partner, SwedelsonGottlieb

As you have likely noticed, lately there have been a lot of significant earthquakes all over the world. Haiti, Chile, New Zealand, and Japan. Since May 1st, California has experienced over 400 earthquakes, most too small to be noticed. But experts say that it is only a matter of time before California suffers a new and significant earthquake. Are you prepared? What about your community association? Probably not. But all of us can certainly learn from prior experiences. So I found an old article I prepared following our experiences working with hundreds of condominium and planned development homeowner associations following the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Follow this link to read my August 1994 article, Lessons Learned from the January 1994 Earthquake, that was published in Condo Management magazine.

David Swedelson can be contacted via email: dcs@sghoalaw.com

By David Swedelson, SwedelsonGottlieb Partner

Japan’s massive earthquake has caused many of us to be concerned about earthquakes in California. A March 20, 2011 L.A. Times article reports that the Japan quake has created a surge of interest in earthquake insurance in California.

The article reports that only about 12% of Californians with homeowner’s insurance policies have quake coverage. The article did not report on condominium associations, but Tim Cline, a respected California insurance expert and broker, advises that while there is no statistical data published as to the percentage of California community associations that do carry this coverage, he estimates it at 25%. Tim does indicate that the percentage is closer to 50% of condominium associations, and that makes sense as they have more to protect and deal with than other types of community associations.

Continue reading "Costs and Benefits of Earthquake Insurance: Is it Worth the Cost?" »

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?" »