HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - December 13, 2019
Published: Fri, 12/13/19
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California Takes the Lead Again, and HOA Boards Aren’t Happy
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In this week’s tip, we unpack a new California law designed to ease the affordable housing crisis that authorizes owners to convert their garage and even add a small accessory dwelling unit to their yard — even if their HOA prohibits such changes.
The law that just passed is AB 670, and it was signed by the state’s governor Aug. 30, 2019. It takes effect Jan. 1, 2020.
We’ll say what our experts won’t (though they might be thinking it): This law isn’t well thought out. “The whole purpose of this law is to allow infill development,” explains Susan Hawks McClintic, co-managing shareholder and the chair of the community association transactional practice group at the law firm of Epsten Grinnell & Howell in San Diego. “The state has been pushing this issue for about 11 years. About 11 years ago, a state statute was enacted to tell cities and counties: You need to amend your planning documents to allow for more infill.
“They didn’t get the message, and many cities and counties actually made infill development harder,” she recalls. “Then two years ago, another law was passed essentially telling cities and counties: You didn’t get this the first time; you’ve got to allow infill. They still didn’t react quite the way legislators wanted them to, and then this law was passed.
“What people are really freaking out about here in California is changes to the election law,” states McClintic. She’s referring to a new law governing how California HOAs and condos handle elections, which we covered this past summer while it was still being considered by the legislature.
It has since passed, and next month, we’ll unpack it for readers because it’s a huge challenge for associations to grapple with. “I predict all of our clients are going to screw it up in some way,” says McClintic. “It’s so complicated. The timelines are so challenging. And recalls? There’s no way to comply with the new election law and laws governing recalls. It’s not possible.
“However, for our planned development clients, the ADU legislation will have far greater impact on their daily lives,” she predicts.
The ADU law invalidates any current HOA restriction that “effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts the construction or use of an accessory dwelling unit or junior accessory dwelling unit on a lot zoned for single-family residential use.” A few additional provisions also affect the law’s application.
The bill permits HOAs to place “reasonable restrictions” on such dwellings as long as the restrictions don’t unreasonably increase construction costs or effectively prohibit construction.
Read more, including why one of our experts say boards should both act and hold tight, in our new article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/4027.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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