Articles Posted in CC&R and Rule Enforcement

By David Swedelson, Partner, SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys

The Los Angeles Times reports that the Los Angeles City Council is considering an increase in the number of cats that a Los Angeles City resident can own. Seriously? We are often called upon to deal with condo residents that have way too many cats in their units and are unable to properly care for them or their unit. As a result, neighbors complain of odors coming from these units. Not a healthy situation.

According to the article, the goal of the proposed rule change is not to encourage cat hoarding, but to save felines. “We want to give loving community members an opportunity to become part of the solution by adopting and/or fostering altered shelter cats in their homes,” said Brenda Barnette, General Manager, Los Angeles Animal Services. The article indicates that the city is seeking to increase the number of cats that one may own from three to five. The article also acknowledges that enforcement has been lax. I do not see this helping community associations.

By David Swedelson, Partner, SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys

I was recently made aware of a lawsuit filed in Fayetteville, New York by an HOA against homeowners seeking to restrict them from parking their 2014 Ford F-150 pickup truck in their driveway. The association apparently has CC&Rs that limit parking in driveways to only “private, passenger-type, pleasure automobiles.” Many California HOAs have restrictions on the parking of commercial vehicles, and this often leads to debates as to what constitutes a commercial vehicle. At one association we represent, the board was having a serious debate on this, as one board member wanted to ban an owner’s truck merely because it was the kind of truck that is used for commercial purposes, but there were no observable indications that the truck was used for commercial purposes.

Follow this link to an article from a Syracuse newspaper on this story. The article has a photograph showing what appears to be a fairly typical pickup truck. The pickup truck in question does not have any markings on it showing that it is used for business, no racks on it for contractors to haul ladders or other equipment, etc. It looks like an everyday pickup truck that regular people use as their personal vehicles.
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By David Swedelson, Esq., SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys

A manager at a planned development community association we represent contacted me regarding a dispute with an owner. The board was refusing to allow the owner to make a change to the common area solely because the owner had made a change without first submitting a plan and obtaining the required prior approval. I was informed that the board was refusing to provide approval as punishment for the owners’ actions. And the board was doing this despite the fact that the owner had come to them with two options that would have minimal impact on the common area and/or the aesthetics of the association, and the cost for the owner to bring the property back to its prior conditions would have been very expensive. The owner was not happy, and there were some rumblings of a lawsuit. I had to tell the manager and the board that their approach was not appropriate and that there was a possibility that the association could lose if a lawsuit were to be filed.

What I describe above is not an atypical board response to an owner’s failure to seek prior approval for a modification. It is not the correct response, and it can lead to lawsuits that associations may lose. We know this because the Court of Appeal has decided a similar case and told us that California community associations must consider the plans and approve or disapprove the proposed modification based on the usual and customary factors, such as impact on the common area, on the community, neighboring owners, etc. Boards need to show that their actions were regular, fair, and reasonable as a matter of law. Refusing to consider an owner’s plans for a modification because the owner had already made the modifications without approval is not a fair or reasonable response.

By David Swedelson, Partner, SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys

I was alerted to a proposed smoking ban in apartments and condominiums by the City Council in Culver City, California. Follow this link to read an article from the Culver City Observer that tells us that the City Council directed the City Staff to prepare a draft proposed ordinance that would ban smoking in any complex of 2 or more units.

We have reported previously about cities banning smoking in multiunit housing – see our prior posts here and here. If a city can ban smoking, so can a condominium or homeowners association. In fact, some of our clients are moving forward with smoking prohibitions in their CC&Rs and have been able to successfully enforce the prohibitions without having to file any lawsuits.

By David Swedelson, Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys

We often get calls from Board members and managers asking us to help them with noise problems. Usually, the complaints involve hard surface flooring, loud stereos or TVs, prolonged or loud dog barking, or a tenant who plays a musical instrument for several hours a day, especially on the weekend or in the evenings.

In China, which is apparently experiencing a condominium-building boom, they have a different kind of noise problem: public dancing to loud music. These aren’t raves; they’re daily occurrences. And the rowdy crowd isn’t twenty-something millennials. They’re grandmothers, women in their 50s and 60s, about 100 million of them. Even in China, this is not an inconsequential number. This was the subject of a recent article in the Wall Street Journal.

The dancing – whether it’s traditional, patriotic, or China’s version of rap or hip-hop, is a problem for people who choose to relax in quieter ways, and whose quiet enjoyment of their units is disturbed. Some paid extra for their units for the peace and quiet. Terms to buy a condo can be stiff in China. For example, in one complex, a $300,000 unit required 50% up front, and the balance within three years. These owners are arming themselves with decibel meters, and working to get laws passed to create “Quiet Zones”.
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By David Swedelson, Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys

Earlier this year, I attended a legislative action day in Sacramento. I was surprised by the number of bills being proposed to deal with the drought, with many of them focused on community associations. As the state of emergency with our water supply in California drags on, state and local governments continue to get more aggressive with addressing water use. They do not want us using all that much. And they do not care if an owner’s lawn turns brown.

I recently attended a meeting at an association in Santa Barbara. The association’s large expanse of green grass was turning brown. Turns out that Santa Barbara has issued strong ordinances regulating the watering of lawns; the association can only water their grounds for ten minutes, once a week.

Have you seen SwedelsonGottlieb Senior Partner David Swedelson present his Playing by the Rules seminar yet? Be sure to catch his next offering of this popular program with co-presenter Craig Phillips on July 30, 2014 at 8:00 a.m. in Valencia. The program is free to HOA board members and managers who preregister.

Topics covered include handling rule enforcement issues, the hearing process, the fining procedure and how to collect fines.

Follow this link to register for the event.

By SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys

We are often asked about what portions of an association’s CC&Rs and Bylaws need updating to reflect current state statute and best practices. The answer is usually simple – everything! Due to the reorganization of the Davis-Stirling Act effective January 1, 2014, which included many substantive changes, plus many other statutory changes that have occurred within the past 10 years, many associations’ governing documents have ceased to be reliable resources for effective governance and operation of an association. We are currently assisting many of the firm’s clients with complete amendment and restatement of their CC&Rs, Bylaws, Rules and Policies.

But what if your association just doesn’t have the time or money to commit to a full amendment and restatement, but would still like to make some improvements to your association’s governing documents? We suggest the board consider some “spot” amendments.
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