Description
This year’s Legislative Day at the Capitol will be our most important one ever! There are bills that curtail document production fees by third parties, alter assessment payment agreements, require installation of electrical outlets for vehicles, bar board actions between meetings, and revamp the entire Davis Stirling Act.
New Liability for Board Members and Associations! AB 771 would cap the fee (and profit) charged by private companies for gathering and delivering CC&Rs and financial statements to sellers at time of sale. Results: The document preparation companies go out of business, the duty to provide the documents falls upon HOA boards, buyers and sellers are put at risk and may sue the HOA and Board members, and escrows may be delayed.
HOAs Forced to Install Electric Charging Stations! SB 209 prohibits HOAs from restricting the installation of an electric vehicle charging station anywhere in the development. HOAs that violate this bill would be liable for damages and a civil penalty of $1,000 per occurrence. The bill is silent as to who pays for installing and mantaining these stations, who is liable for injury from installation and use of the outlets, and who pays the electric bill.
Delinquent Assessment Collection Fees: SB 561 requires any paid delinquent assessments to first be applied to the HOA and not the collection fee. It also prohibits third party debt collection companies from changing the terms of the debt repayment plan. Result: homeowner associations may be forced to pay the collection companies’ fees up front with no guarantee that they will be repaid by the debtor/ owner.
Board Actions Between Meetings Prohibited! SB 563 prohibits boards from discussing and taking action on any item outside of a properly noticed meeting which shall not be a series of e-mails. A room is to be available for members to participate in the teleconferences. HOA decision making ability would be crippled.
