Legislation

Section 4775 of the Civil Code currently holds associations responsible for maintaining, repairing, and replacing common areas while owners are responsible for maintaining their units and any attached exclusive use common areas, unless the community's governing documents state otherwise. However, the current law fails to delineate whether associations or owners are responsible for the repairs and replacements of exclusive use common areas if the community's governing documents do not clearly establish same. In trying to clarify the current code's language, the legislature recently passed Assembly Bill No. 968 to amend Section 4775.

Effective January 1, 2017, associations will be responsible for maintaining, repairing, and replacing the common areas and repairing and replacing the exclusive use common areas while the owners of each unit are responsible for maintaining, repairing, and replacing their units and merely maintaining the exclusive use common areas, unless the community's CC&Rs provide otherwise.

The following is a summary of legislation enacted and court decisions from this past year, and news and current events, which impact common interest developments. 

ENACTED STATE LEGISLATION

AB 349 (Gonzalez) Property Use and Maintenance – Artificial Turf

Effective immediately as an urgency statute, AB 349 amends Civil Code Section 4735 to make any provision of a governing document or policy, including architectural or landscaping guidelines, void and unenforceable if it prohibits, or includes conditions that have the effect of prohibiting, the use of artificial turf or other synthetic surface resembling grass. AB 349 was enacted to reduce outdoor water use to help meet the Governor’s mandated 25-percent statewide water use reduction in a time of drought.

This bill also amends Civil Code Section 4735 to prohibit associations from requiring a member to remove or reverse water-efficient landscaping measures, installed in response to a declaration of a state of emergency, once the state of emergency due to drought is lifted.

AB 596 (Daly) Annual Budget Report – FHA/VA Certification

Beginning July 1, 2016, the annual budget report of a condominium project must include a separate statement describing the status of certification by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the federal Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
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