HOA Resources

Documents useful for the Board amd members of the Association are presented here. The documents are offered in hope that they will be useful. All documents, except the 2020 Condominium Bluebook, are free for downloading.

The documents provide an overview of the California statutes governing Homeowners Associations, Guidance for Associations in preparing budgets, Guidance in preparing an Association Reserve Budget and an overview of what it means to live in an Association.

In California all Homeowners’ Associations are governed by the Davis-Stirling Act, a.k.a., Civil Codes Sections §4000 – §6000 inclusive. This Act defines the legitimacy of the Association and the State mandated governance of the Association. This is the ‘law’. Several references are provided to the Act.

• Davis-Stirling Act: This is an online reference source for the Act. It has a Table of Contents and allows online access to each section of the Act. All Act references are hyperlinked, allowing the document to be easily searched.
• Davis-Stirling Act: A downloadable pdf file containing the Act. It provides a non-hyperlinked access to the entire Act and is suitable for home or office use. This is not an endorsement of the firm providing this resource.
• 2020 Condominium Bluebook: A purchasable copy of a legal interpretation of the Act. This is a resource providing summary details of the Act in laymen terms with legal annotations.

California State Guidance documents are provided for Homeowner Associations. The Guidance details the rationale for implementation of different State requirements, and a discussion of the mechanics needed to be performed. This provides invaluable guidance to financial management and State mandated obligations for financial management.

• HOA Operating Cost Manual: Guide to budget preparation. Provides insight into developing budgets and identifies cost items to be included. The cost items include fixed costs, operating costs, accounting for reserves, administrative and contingency.
• HOA Reserve Study Guidelines: This is a rather old document (2010) which describes the need and requirements for reserves. This defines the overarching requirements for our Reserve Study, published and distributed on request each December. References to Civil Code Sections (the Davis-Stirling Act) are not current.

There are certain rquirements levied on Homeowners living under a Homeowner’s Association. The general outline of these requirements, what the Homeowner can expect and what the Homeowner is expected to do, are outlined in the California Living in a Common Interest Development document. It describes the role of CC & Rs and Bylaws, and interaction and expectations for the board or directors, and other related issues. It is a summary descripton of what it means to live under a Homeowner Association.

The California Department of Real Estate is a good resource to search for information concerning Homeowner Associations.

All material included herein is provided as an accessible resource without the implication that the item is endorsed or subscribed to. No opinion or information contained within any item is endorsed or subscrbed to. The information is provided as a tool for evaluation and consideration of a Hone Owners Association.

One important aspect to the Board of Directors responsibility is that they act as fiduciaries to the Association. A fiduciary has several responsibilities, not only financial. All responsibilities require that the Board members follow California law and the Association governing documents, our Bylaws, CC&Rs and Rules and Regulations. Broaching any of these laws, or in the case of finances, being less than prudent invites a suit. Unlike other suits, a suit for broaching fiduciary obligations is typically not covered by the Association Directors and Officers (D & O) insurance. In this case, the suit is brought against individual Directors of the Board, and the Board member must defend him/her self out of their own pocket.

The following hyperlinks are to resources giving a deeper understanding of the Board’s fiduciary responsibility. Many of the links are to information contained on attorney’s websites. The inclusion of a link to an attorney website is not an endorsement of the attorney or an endorsment of the position taken by an attorney. The inclusion is to a site which may provide useful information to an Association member wanting to find more information about fiduciaries and fiduciary responsiblity.