Home Owners' Associations Governance Funding Record Keeping

The act increases requirements for disclosure and transparency in the operations of unit owners' associations (HOAs) in common interest communities, including requiring an HOA to maintain and keep available to unit owners, as part of its official records:

• A list of the HOA's current fees chargeable upon sale of a home in the community; and
• Other information currently required to be disclosed annually under existing law, including financial statements, reserve fund balances, insurance policies, and meeting minutes.

If access to the association records described above are not provided within 30 calendar days after a request was submitted by certified mail, the HOA is liable for a penalty of $50 per day for not providing them.

Section 2 of the act adds specificity to the requirement that HOAs allow installation of renewable energy generation devices (e.g., solar panels) subject to reasonable aesthetic guidelines by requiring approval or denial of a completed application within 60 days and requiring approval if imposition of the aesthetic guidelines would result in more than a 10% reduction in efficiency or a 10% increase in price.

Section 1 specifically includes nonvegetative turf grass (also known as artificial turf) among the types of drought-tolerant landscaping materials that the HOA may regulate but not prohibit in the backyard area of a unit. Section 3 adds a similar provision to a companion statute.

The act does not apply to HOAs that include time-share units.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)