Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Residential Associations

I was wondering how much authority residential associations actually have over the residents. I live in an ''association'' neighborhood. The director of the association likes to harass us with stupid association rules that are made up by her and the board members but are not actually city laws. How much authority do these rules have and do I really have to care about them as long as I don't break any REAL laws.


Asked on 2/07/08, 4:27 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Robert F. Cohen Law Office of Robert F. Cohen

Re: Residential Associations

If the rules are not in writing, they should be, so you know what you have to follow. The best suggestion is to hold a vote either to impeach the board or run for office the next time there's a vacancy, and change the stupid rules.

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Answered on 2/07/08, 5:17 pm
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Re: Residential Associations

They have a lot of authority, including authority to levy fines and other discipline for breaking their rules, whether stupid or not. This is a complicated area of the law, and takes up pages of fine print in the Civil Code, but the bottom line is that a member or property owner in a common interest development should not regard the power of their HOA too lightly. The rules aren't REAL laws, but the authority of the HOA and pass and enforce rules is created and backed up by REAL laws.

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Answered on 2/07/08, 6:32 pm


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