State-by-state guideComprehensive act
HOA laws in California
California associations are governed by the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act (Cal. Civ. Code § 4000 et seq.), read together with your recorded declaration. Among the most detailed in the country: annual disclosures, reserve studies, election rules and an internal dispute resolution process.
What the statute does here
This state has a comprehensive act. Where it and your declaration disagree, the statute generally wins, and several of its procedures cannot be waived by the documents.
Governing act
Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act
Citation to read
Cal. Civ. Code § 4000 et seq.
The six questions to answer for California
Look each one up in Cal. Civ. Code § 4000 et seq. and in your own declaration — whichever is stricter is the one that binds you. If a term in either one is unfamiliar, the HOA glossary defines all sixty-five of them.
- Notice periods. How much warning a violation notice, a hearing, a board meeting and an annual meeting each require — and whether email counts as delivery.
- Hearing rights. Whether an owner can demand a hearing before a fine sticks, who may sit on the panel, and what the record of that hearing has to show.
- Records access. What an owner may inspect, how fast you must produce it, what you may charge, and which records you must withhold.
- Assessments & liens. The steps before a lien attaches, what may be added to the debt, and whether payment plans must be offered.
- Reserves & budgets. Whether a reserve study is mandatory, how often, and what must be disclosed to owners each year.
- Meetings & voting. Open-meeting rules, when executive session is permitted, proxy and electronic voting, and what must appear in the minutes.
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