Articles Posted in Legislative Developments

By David Swedelson, Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys

In 2012, many managers were concerned when the California legislature enacted AB 2237, amending Business and Professions (B&P) Code Section 7026.1 relating to contractors, which became effective at the beginning of this year. The amendments to AB 2237 mandated required “consultants” overseeing some construction projects to be licensed “contractors”. This caused some managers to be concerned as to whether they were considered “consultants” and therefore required to be licensed contractors when performing management services for condo and homeowner associations. Specifically, there was concern that doing typical management functions such as bid solicitation, bid management and/or oversight of common area maintenance projects would require a contractor’s license.

The legislative intent behind AB 2237, which was sponsored by the Contractors State License Board (CSLB), is to serve as a “valuable consumer protection measure,” meant to address situations where “people who don’t have a state contractor license call themselves construction consultants and encourage property owners to take on home improvement projects as the owner-builder. The so-called consultant collects a fee and many times leaves the homeowners with all of the project responsibility and liability… [AB 2237] will clearly define when someone is a contractor and discourage unscrupulous individuals from working under a fraudulently obtained owner-builder permit.” (CSLB Press Release – 12/31/12)
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CAI’s California Legislative Action Committee sent out an alert requesting that we all place as many calls as we can today (Tuesday April 30, 2013, before 5:30 PM) to the California Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee Members referenced below to leave a message urging them to vote YES on AB 1360. We previously posted an article about this legislation that will allow electronic voting by members of California Community Associations. Follow this link to read the text of AB 1360.
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By David Swedelson, SwedelsonGottlieb Condo Lawyer and HOA Legal Expert

According to an article in the Sacramento Bee, “Californians would not be able to smoke tobacco inside their own homes under new legislation that would raise the bar nationwide for fighting secondhand smoke.

No state ever has ventured into personal bedrooms and living rooms with its smoking restrictions, but California is going even further than that by targeting owner-occupied residences as well as rental units.

Specifically, the measure would prohibit lighting up a cigarette, cigar or pipe in condominiums, duplexes and apartment units.”

“Californians should be able to breathe clean air in their own homes,” said Assemblyman Marc Levine, a San Rafael Democrat who introduced the legislation, Assembly Bill 746.

Levine is looking to eliminate the health hazards of secondhand smoke in residences that share walls, ceilings, floors or ventilation systems.
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We have been receiving a number of inquiries regarding Assembly Bill 2273 that was signed into law by the Governor, effective as of January 1, 2013, that amends Civil Code Section 2924b. This new law requires: (1) recordation of a trustee’s deed upon sale within 30 days of the sale; and (2) a copy of a recorded trustee’s deed upon sale to be provided to an association within 15 days of the trustee’s sale, provided that the association has recorded the statutorily required request for notice on the subject property pursuant to Section 2924b(f) prior to the recordation of the trustee’s notice of default. (Currently, the copy of the recorded trustee’s deed must be provided to associations within 15 days of the date the trustee’s deed upon sale is recorded.)

Follow this link to download our full printable article on this matter.

by Sandra L. Gottlieb, Esq., Senior Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys

As most everyone in the community association industry knows (or should know), on August 17, 2012 California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill (“AB”) 805 which reorganizes and makes significant changes to the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act (the “Act”). While the date for mandatory compliance is January 1, 2014 (meaning that although the change is now law, the new and revamped Act does not take affect until 2014), we have heard that a rumor has been spreading within the industry that associations have the option to implement the new laws beginning January 1, 2013. This rumor is false and this is simply not true. Could you imagine the chaos that would ensue if some associations followed the new Act and some the old? We can!

The community association attorneys at SwedelsonGottlieb have attacked AB 805 head-on, reading every single word and evaluating each component of the new legislation/Act. Section 3 of AB 805 states the following: “This act shall become operative on January 1, 2014.” Nowhere in the legislation does it say that there is an option to make the new Act operative earlier. To confirm our research, we contacted a representative of the Assembly Housing & Community Development Committee, the committee that introduced the legislation. The representative confirmed our findings and stated: “The operative date of the legislation is January 1, 2014, there is nothing in the bill about early implementation.” Accordingly, don’t be misled! Early implementation is not an option and in fact, we recommend associations implement the new legislation on January 1, 2014 – no earlier, and certainly no later.

Blog post by David Swedelson, Partner SwedelsonGottlieb

Santa Monica has passed a law with new smoking rules that affect all multi-unit housing, and that includes condominiums. Follow this link to review the new municipal code. Follow this link to review a related notice from the City of Santa Monica. What follows is a description of the new law as it impacts condominiums.

Condominium associations must complete a smoking survey of current unit residents by 1/21/13, and unit owners will be required to designate their units either “smoking” or “non-smoking”. For details about this process, go to smconsumer.org.

Current or existing unit residents can continue to smoke inside their units if they designate the units as “smoking”. If an owner or resident (and for the purposes of compliance with this new law, condo associations should survey both owners and tenants) fails to respond to the survey, that unit will be “undesignated” for the purposes of the final results. Not sure what that means. Time will tell.

The new law affects all new owners or residents after 11/22/12. This means that if there is a smoker residing in the unit now (either an owner or tenant), they can continue to smoke in the unit. However, starting November 22, 2012, all newly occupied condominium units in residential community associations located in Santa Monica are declared non-smoking. “So, anyone moving into an apartment or condo after November 22 can’t smoke in the unit.”
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Blog post by David Swedelson

The California Legislative Action Committee reports that the Assembly Housing & Community Development Committee passed AB 2273 on a unanimous bipartisan vote of 7-0. This proposed legislation will require recordation of foreclosure sales within 30 days after sale.


CLAC reports that the author of the bill, Assembly Member Bob Wieckowski, a bankruptcy attorney, “has a complete grasp of the multiple issues that this bill triggers, which greatly assists [California Community Associations] in dealing with the escalating opposition from the lending community, trustees, land-title companies, and others.”

By the condo lawyers and HOA attorneys at SwedelsonGottlieb

As reported by the Community Association Institute’s California Legislative Action Committee (CLAC), “Senate Bill 880 leapfrogged ahead of hundreds of other bills and was signed into law on February 29, 2012. Since this bill was passed as an Urgency Bill, it goes into effect immediately.”

As you may remember, in late 2011 the California Legislature pushed SB 209 through despite several flaws, and when Governor Brown signed SB 209, he admitted the bill had a number of serious flaws, such as allowing the taking of association common areas for a homeowner’s private use in violation of California’s Constitution and the Davis-Stirling Act (which generally requires approval of 67% of an association’s membership before an owner can exclusively use common areas).

Prepared by the Community Association Attorneys at SwedelsonGottlieb

As they do almost every year, the California Legislature has yet again changed the Davis-Stirling Act (there have been approximately 50 amendments to the Act since its inception in 1985). We have summarized the most significant changes which impact how boards will hold meetings including executive session meetings, how boards communicate with one another, fees at escrow, electric charging stations, and rental restrictions. We will be preparing additional articles on these changes and posting them to https://www.hoalawblog.com. Follow this link for our summary of new legislation.

By Sandra L. Gottlieb, Esq., SwedelsonGottlieb Managing Partner; Community Association Legal Counsel

In 2002, the California Law Revision Commission (CLRC) was charged by then-Governor Gray Davis with clarifying ambiguities within the Davis-Stirling Act. (Civil Code Sections 1350-1378) to make it more “user-friendly” for homeowners and board members alike. After working fro many years with stakeholders, including a working group of attorneys, community managers and other industry professionals, the CLRC is behind the introduction of AB 805 (Torres), a two-year bill which must first be passed by both the Senate and Assembly and ultimately signed by the governor into law.

At this point, it is highly likely that AB 805 will make its way through both houses in 2012, with an effective date of either January 2013 or (the more likely date of) January 2014. Attorneys and managers alike will need continuing education to learn the new code provisions, sections and numbering.
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