On August 17, 2012 California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bills 805 and 806 and thus ended the California Law Revision Commission's trek to reorganize the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act ("the Act"). AB 805 effectively relocates the Act to a new Part 5 (commencing with Section 4000) to Division 4 of the Civil Code, while AB 806 cleans up numerical references to the Act contained in various California statutes.

The law does not become effective until January 1, 2014 to provide HOA industry professionals, homeowners, Board Members and attorneys some time to become acquainted with its new reorganized form...

Click here to continue reading our blogpost entitled:  

"Davis-Stirling Reorganization Bill Signed! Effective Jan. 2014"

Every HOA will at some point hire a vendor to perform certain tasks on behalf of the HOA, or to furnish services to the HOA and its members. In doing so, a HOA may be exposed to liability brought about by vendor actions and/or the terms of the vendor contracts. Because such liability may substantially impact the financial interests of the HOA and its members, HOA Boards of Directors and community managers must understand how to properly protect the HOA when hiring a vendor.

We have published a resource addressing three (3) issues that are key to doing so: (1) the necessity for hiring properly licensed, bonded and insured vendors, (2) the employment status of a vendor as an "independent contractor" or an "employee" of the HOA, and (3) the importance of having proposed vendor contracts reviewed by legal counsel prior to execution. 

Click here to read our resource entitled: 

"HOA Concerns in Contracting with Vendors"

On August 16, 2012 the California Supreme Court announced its decision in a case that will undoubtedly impact HOAs, developers, owners and insurers in disputes arising from construction defects. The ruling in Pinnacle Museum Tower Association v. Pinnacle Market Development (US) LLC sets the stage for construction defect disputes to be resolved via binding arbitration as opposed to jury trials.

The Court's ruling in Pinnacle reverses the lower courts' decisions which previously hampered the enforceability of arbitration provisions contained in recorded Declarations of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions ("CC&Rs"). Central to the Court's ruling was its recognition that CC&Rs constitute a contract and that there is strong public policy favoring arbitration/alternative dispute resolution over litigation--a public policy which is embodied in various Civil Code provisions pertaining to HOAs...

Click here to continue reading our blogpost entitled:  

"Arbitration Provisions Rise Again in Construction Defect Disputes"

Asked - My condominium association is imposing a special assessment against all owners to reimburse it for costs incurred in repairing the structure of an owner's leaking balcony. Because the balcony is "exclusive use common area" to be maintained by the individual owner, is my association in compliance with Civil Code �1364? 

Answered - Yes, your association is in compliance with Civil Code �1364 due to the nature of the damage/maintenance at issue. 

Civil Code �1364 does state that "the association is responsible for repairing, replacing, or maintaining the common areas, other than exclusive use common areas, and the owner of each separate interest is responsible for maintaining that separate interest and any exclusive use common area appurtenant to the separate interest" (emphasis added). However, the scope of the owner's maintenance obligation for her "exclusive use common area appurtenant to [her] separate interest" (her balcony) extends primarily to the basic upkeep of the balcony's usable surfaces... 

Click here to continue reading our blogpost entitled:  

"HOA's Ability to Impose Assessments for Maintaining Exclusive Use Common Areas?"

The Tinnelly Law Group has secured a favorable settlement in a breach of contract case for one of our HOA clients located in Fullerton, California. 

The terms of the settlement required a judicial determination as to the prevailing party and the "reasonable" attorneys' fees amount to be awarded. After arguing those issues via a motion for attorneys' fees, the court declared our client the prevailing party and found that all of our client's attorneys' fees (nearly $200,000) were reasonable. Such 100% attorneys' fees awards are incredibly rare.

Our client's Board of Directors and management praised attorney Bruce Kermott and the entire TLG team for their efforts in securing such a fantastic outcome for the HOA and its membership...

Click here to continue reading our blogpost entitled:  

"TLG Secures Favorable Settlement..."

We are proud to announce the opening of TLG's newest office location in San Mateo, California.

The opening of the San Mateo office is in response to our rapidly expanding San Francisco Bay Area client portfolio. Our attorneys and staff are already beginning to enjoy the working relationships we are developing with our Northern California HOA clients and their management.  Our new San Mateo location will assist in providing them with the responsive and personalized service for which we are known. 

Our blog is updated weekly with mini articles on an array of community association topics and new case law.  We encourage HOA boards, homeowners and management to send us questions online for our attorneys to answer on our blog.  

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