HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - September 26, 2025
Published: Fri, 09/26/25
Updated: Mon, 09/29/25
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HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - September 26, 2025
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In this week's tip, we give you a heads up: You may need to keep a watchful eye on your state legislators and step in to educate them if they get crazy ideas.
We say this because state legislators across the country often don't understand how condos and HOAs work, yet they plow through with legislation that makes your job harder.
It's actually a trend.
The latest example comes from California, where legislators enacted a new law that became effectively immediately that capped fines at HOAs to $100. This is similar to changes made to Colorado law in 2022. And just a few months ago, Minnesota lawmakers imposed a dispute resolution system on condos and HOAs that's drawing attention.
You need to learn from this, no matter the state in which your condo or HOA is located. Your hands could be the next to be tied.
“There has been a lot of consternation and discussion among industry attorneys, management companies, and boards of directors about the new California law,” according to Jasmine F. Hale, CCAL, a principal at Berding & Weil based in Walnut Creek, Calif., who advises condos and HOAs throughout California.
“For different reasons, there are a lot of objections,” she explains. “There's a lot of unhappiness with this law, most importantly because of how it was passed. It was passed as part of a budget reconciliation law, which isn't supposed to include opposed or controversial positions. The Community Associations Institute was working directly with the author of this change that was part of a different bill, and literally at the eleventh hour, it was put into the budget reconciliation package with no notice.
“On a substantive level, it's poorly drafted and leaves a lot of questions, more than it answers,” adds Hale. “It definitely takes fines for things that don't qualify as health-safety threats and provides little incentive for owners to comply.
“For example, let's say I'm renting my unit as an Airbnb, and that's not permitted in my community,” she explains. “The HOA would typically fine me a multiplier of what I get from my rentals as a way to deter me. Here the HOA can fine me only $100. So I just bump up my cost and pay the fine.
“It's problematic, and it has definitely caused a lot of unhappiness for other communities, too,” says Hale. “I have communities in Lake Tahoe, which is an extreme fire area. They don't mess around with that risk and impose strong fines for things like lighting fireworks over the Fourth of July.
“This law came into effect July 1,” she states. “How do we go about enforcing something we think is a genuine life-safety issue, especially when the law provides homeowners the opportunity to cure violations? You can't cure fireworks you've already launched.
“Proponents say this law is making living in an HOA better,” says Hale. “One could also say, ‘Just don't violate the rules, and living in your HOA will be better.'”
Find out why this isn't just a California thing—plus what's causing these changes—in our new article: https://www.hoaleader.com/members/5175.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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