California's HOA law is one long statute written for lawyers, and most of the people who have to follow it are volunteers with day jobs. This page translates the ten parts boards actually run into, with the Civil Code section behind every rule so you can check us and hand it to your attorney.
Written for board members, not for law review. General information only, not legal advice.
Each section explains the rule in ordinary language, then says what it means for your board in practice. Pick the one you need.
The Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act is California Civil Code sections 4000 through 6150. It is the operating manual the Legislature wrote for community associations.
Civil Code section 4100 defines a common interest development as one of four things: a community apartment project, a condominium project, a planned development, or a stock cooperative. If your community has a recorded declaration and an association that manages common area or enforces the declaration, you are almost certainly one of the four.
The Act is the floor, not the ceiling. Your CC&Rs, bylaws, and rules add detail on top of it, and where your documents impose a stricter or longer requirement than the statute, you generally follow the stricter one. Where your documents say something the statute forbids, the statute wins and that provision is unenforceable. This trips up boards working from a declaration recorded in 1978 that has never been restated.
The Act also carries its own definitions, in sections 4000 through 4190. Words like "board meeting," "general notice," and "member" mean specific things. When a deadline runs from "general notice," it means notice delivered the way section 4045 describes, not a flyer taped to the mailroom door unless your association has properly designated that spot.
These are the two biggest annual disclosure duties in the Act, and they share a deadline. Miss the window and you can lose the ability to raise assessments without a vote.
The annual budget report, section 5300. The association shall distribute an annual budget report 30 to 90 days before the end of its fiscal year. It includes a pro forma operating budget of estimated revenue and expenses, a summary of reserves, a summary of the reserve funding plan with notice that the full plan is available on request, a statement about major components with repairs deferred or not undertaken, a statement of whether the board expects to levy a special assessment to fund reserve repairs, a description of how reserves are funded, a general statement of the assumptions used in reserve calculations, information on any loan with a term over one year, a summary of the association's insurance policies, FHA and VA certification statements for condominium projects, and the required charges for documents disclosure.
The annual policy statement, section 5310. Within 30 to 90 days before the end of the fiscal year, the board shall distribute an annual policy statement. It is the plain rules of engagement between the association and its members: the address for official communications, how a member may request notices be sent to two addresses, the designated location for posting general notices, the right to receive general notices by individual delivery, the right to receive copies of minutes, the assessment collection policy, the lien enforcement policy, the discipline policy including the schedule of penalties, a summary of dispute resolution procedures, a summary of the requirements for association approval of physical changes to property, the overnight payment address, and anything else required by law or your documents.
The two are separate documents with separate contents. Sending one is not sending the other, and a common audit finding is an association that folded the policy statement into the budget packet and left half its required contents out.
Count the days against your own fiscal year end and confirm the dates with your manager or counsel. The statute sets the window; your calendar sets the date.
The Open Meeting Act is short, and almost every complaint a board gets from an engaged homeowner starts here.
Notice and agenda, section 4920. The association shall give notice of the time and place of a board meeting at least four days before the meeting. If a nonemergency meeting is held solely in executive session, notice is at least two days before. Notice is delivered under section 4045 and must include the agenda. If your bylaws require a longer notice period, follow the longer one.
Stay on the agenda, section 4930. The board may not discuss or take action at a nonemergency meeting on an item that was not on the agenda. There are narrow outs. Directors may briefly respond to a speaker, ask a clarifying question, make a brief announcement, or ask staff to report back or place something on a future agenda. The board may act on an unforeseen emergency by majority determination, or on a need that came to its attention after the agenda went out by a two thirds vote of directors present, or by all directors if less than two thirds are present. It may also act on an item continued from a meeting held within the prior 30 days. In the emergency and late need cases, the board must openly identify the item to the members in attendance first.
Executive session, section 4935. Executive session is for litigation, matters relating to the formation of contracts with third parties, member discipline, personnel matters, and, on a member's request, that member's assessment payment. The board may also meet in executive session to discuss payment plans and to decide whether to foreclose on a lien. Anything discussed in executive session must be generally noted in the minutes of the next open meeting. "Generally noted" means a line item, not the substance.
No deciding by email, section 4910. The board shall not take action on any item of business outside a board meeting, and it may not conduct a meeting by a series of electronic transmissions, including email. The one exception is an emergency meeting conducted by electronic transmission where all directors consent in writing, with the consent filed with the minutes. Circulating a proposal by email and collecting replies is the single most common violation in volunteer run associations.
Members may attend and speak, section 4925, and the board must provide a reasonable time for members to speak at an open meeting. Minutes, section 4950: minutes, draft minutes marked as drafts, or a summary of any board meeting other than executive session shall be available to members within 30 days of the meeting.
Board elections, most assessment votes, and amendments to governing documents run on the secret ballot procedure. The process is rigid on purpose, and courts have set elections aside for skipping steps.
Election rules, section 5105. The association must adopt operating rules covering equal access to association media for candidates and members advocating a point of view, free access to common area meeting space during a campaign, candidate qualifications and nomination procedures, and the method of selecting one or three independent inspectors of elections. A qualification rule is not reasonable if it disallows a member from nominating themselves. The statute lists the grounds on which you may disqualify a nominee, including unpaid regular or special assessments, and it makes clear you may not disqualify someone over fines, late charges, or collection costs. Election rules may not be amended less than 90 days before an election.
Inspector of elections, section 5110. There must be one or three inspectors, and they must be independent. A director, a candidate, or anyone related to a director or candidate may not serve. A member may serve if they meet those limits. The inspector determines voting power, receives and holds the ballots, counts the votes, and reports the result, and that report is prima facie evidence of the facts it states.
The 30 day clocks, section 5115. General notice of the procedure and deadline for submitting a nomination goes out at least 30 days before that deadline. General notice of the election details, including the date and location where ballots will be counted, goes out at least 30 days before ballots are distributed. Ballots and two preaddressed envelopes with return instructions are mailed by first class mail or delivered to every member not less than 30 days before the voting deadline.
The double envelope, section 5115. The ballot itself is not signed. It goes into an inner envelope that is sealed, and that envelope goes into a second sealed envelope on which the voter signs and identifies their address or lot. That is what makes it a secret ballot: the inspector separates the outer envelope before the ballot is seen.
Counting, section 5120. Votes are counted and tabulated by the inspector in public at a properly noticed open meeting of the board or the members. Any candidate or member may watch. Nobody may open or view a ballot before that meeting. Within 15 days of the election, the board shall give general notice of the tabulated results.
Collections is where boards create the most legal exposure, because the steps are sequential and skipping one can invalidate the lien.
Increase limits, section 5605. If the board has complied with the annual budget report requirements of section 5300, it may not impose a regular assessment more than 20 percent greater than the regular assessment for the preceding fiscal year, and it may not impose special assessments that in the aggregate exceed 5 percent of the budgeted gross expenses for that fiscal year, without the approval of a majority of a quorum of members. Anything above those limits goes to a membership vote. There is a separate, tighter limit for deed restricted affordable housing units in associations whose declaration was recorded on or after January 1, 2025, capping increases at 5 percent plus the change in the cost of living, not to exceed 10 percent, with several exceptions. If your community includes affordable units, that one is worth a call to counsel.
Delinquency, section 5650. Regular and special assessments are delinquent 15 days after they become due, unless the declaration allows a longer period. The association may charge a late charge not exceeding 10 percent of the delinquent assessment or ten dollars, whichever is greater, unless the declaration sets a smaller amount, plus interest at an annual rate not exceeding 12 percent, beginning 30 days after the assessment becomes due. Your declaration may allow less. It may not allow more.
The notice before a lien, section 5660. At least 30 days before recording a lien on an owner's separate interest, the association shall notify the owner in writing by certified mail. That notice must include a general description of the association's collection and lien enforcement procedures and how the amount was calculated, an itemized statement of the charges owed broken out into delinquent assessments, collection costs, attorney fees, late charges, and interest, a statement that the owner is not liable if the assessment was paid on time, the right to request a meeting with the board, the right to use the association's internal dispute resolution program, and the right to request alternative dispute resolution with a neutral third party before the association may take action to foreclose.
Limits on foreclosure, section 5720. An association may not use foreclosure to collect delinquent regular or special assessments of less than one thousand eight hundred dollars. That figure does not include accelerated assessments, late charges, collection fees and costs, attorney fees, or interest. The restriction does not apply when the assessments are more than 12 months delinquent. Below those thresholds the association still has options, including small claims court and recording a lien and waiting.
Section 4765 does not tell you what to approve. It tells you how to decide, and how to prove you decided fairly.
Where the governing documents give the board or a committee authority over physical changes to a separate interest, section 4765 requires the review procedure to be in the governing documents and to be fair, reasonable, and expeditious. The procedure must provide for prompt deadlines, and it must state the maximum time for a response to an application. Note what that means in practice: the Act does not set one statewide number of days. It requires your own procedure to name a maximum response time and then requires you to meet it. If your guidelines are silent on that, that is a gap to fix.
A decision on a proposed change shall be made in good faith and may not be unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious. The decision shall be in writing. If the change is disapproved, the written decision must include both an explanation of why it was disapproved and a description of the procedure for reconsideration.
If a proposed change is disapproved, the applicant is entitled to reconsideration by the board at an open meeting of the board. That reconsideration right is a real one, and it belongs to the board even when a committee made the first call.
The association must also annually provide members with notice of any requirements for association approval of physical changes to property, describing the types of changes that require approval and including a copy of the review procedure. In most associations this rides along in the annual policy statement under section 5310.
Consistency is the defense. Two similar applications decided differently, with no written reasons on either, is what "arbitrary" looks like in a courtroom.
A records request is not an attack. It is a statutory right with a short response time, and a late response is its own violation.
What is covered, section 5200. "Association records" include the governing documents, budgets and financial statements, tax returns, executed contracts not otherwise privileged, and board meeting minutes other than executive session minutes. "Enhanced association records" go a layer deeper into the supporting paper: invoices, receipts, canceled checks, purchase orders, credit card statements, and reimbursement requests.
The purpose rule, section 5205. A member's request must be for a purpose reasonably related to their interest as a member. Records may not be used for a commercial purpose or for a purpose unrelated to membership.
The deadlines, section 5210. Records for the current fiscal year go to the member within 10 business days following the association's receipt of the request. Records for the previous two fiscal years go within 30 calendar days. Board meeting minutes follow section 4950, which makes minutes, marked draft minutes, or a summary available within 30 days of the meeting. Approved committee minutes are due within 15 calendar days following approval. Membership list requests run on the timeline in Corporations Code section 8330.
Redaction and cost, section 5215. The association may withhold or redact information that is privileged, confidential, or otherwise protected, and it may charge the direct and actual cost of copying, plus a reasonable cost of redaction not exceeding ten dollars per hour and two hundred dollars total per written request.
This is the area where the most CC&Rs in California are now out of date, because the law moved and the documents did not.
The general rule, section 4741. A provision in a governing document is void and unenforceable if it prohibits, has the effect of prohibiting, or unreasonably restricts the rental or leasing of a separate interest, an accessory dwelling unit, or a junior accessory dwelling unit. Blanket rental bans do not survive this.
What you may still do. An association may set a cap on the number of separate interests that may be rented, but that cap may not be lower than 25 percent. You may set it higher. An association may also prohibit transient or short term rental of a separate interest for a period of 30 days or less, which is how most communities handle vacation rental platforms.
How the cap is counted. An accessory dwelling unit or junior accessory dwelling unit is not treated as a separate interest for purposes of the cap, and a home the owner lives in is not counted as a rental even if an accessory dwelling unit on the property is rented out.
Who is grandfathered, section 4740. A rental restriction adopted after an owner acquired title generally does not apply to that owner. A new cap binds future purchasers, so a community that adopts a 25 percent cap today may sit above that number for years while existing owners cycle out. That is expected, not a failure of enforcement.
These limits arrived through AB 3182, which took effect January 1, 2021, and associations were directed to bring their documents into compliance. Many still have not. If your recorded declaration still says something like "no leasing permitted" or sets a 10 percent cap, that language is not enforceable, and continuing to enforce it is a risk the board is carrying personally.
Discipline is the part of the job volunteers like least, and it is the part with the tightest procedure.
The schedule of penalties, section 5850. If your governing documents allow monetary penalties, the board must adopt and distribute a schedule of the penalties it may assess. A change to that schedule requires general notice to the members before it takes effect. A fine you never published is a fine you cannot collect.
The 2025 cap. AB 130, enacted in 2025, amended section 5850 to cap fines at the lesser of one hundred dollars per violation or the amount in the association's existing schedule of monetary penalties. A higher fine is permitted only where the violation may result in an adverse health or safety impact on the common area or another member's property, and only where the board makes a written finding describing that impact at an open board meeting. The amendment also bars associations from charging late fees or interest on fines. If your schedule still lists escalating fines of several hundred dollars, it needs a rewrite.
Notice and hearing, section 5855. Before the board may impose discipline or a monetary charge for a violation, it must give the member at least 10 days written notice of the meeting at which the matter will be considered. The board shall meet in executive session if the member requests it. The board must notify the member in writing of the decision within 14 days after the action. AB 130 also added a right to cure: the member must be given the opportunity to fix the violation, and if they cure it or commit to curing it within a reasonable time, enforcement can stop there. If the board and the member reach agreement at the hearing, it is put in writing and signed by both. If they do not, the member may request internal dispute resolution.
None of this removes the board's authority. The board still decides whether a rule was broken and what happens next. The procedure exists so the decision holds up.
The Act builds in an off ramp. Most disputes that end badly are disputes where neither side used it.
Internal dispute resolution, sections 5900 to 5920. Every association must provide a fair, reasonable, and expeditious procedure for resolving disputes between the association and a member. When a member invokes it, the association must participate. When the association invokes it, the member may decline. Under section 5910, a member may not be charged a fee to participate.
If your association has not adopted its own procedure, section 5915 supplies a default: the board designates a director to meet and confer with the member, the parties explain their positions, and any resolution they reach is written down. That written resolution is binding and judicially enforceable if it is not in conflict with law or the governing documents and the director had authority to agree to it, or the board later ratifies it. Section 5920 and the annual policy statement under section 5310 require you to describe your procedure to members every year.
Alternative dispute resolution, sections 5925 to 5965. Section 5930 says an association or a member may not file an enforcement action in superior court unless the parties have endeavored to submit their dispute to alternative dispute resolution, which means mediation, arbitration, or a similar process before a neutral. This applies to actions for declaratory, injunctive, or writ relief, alone or with a monetary claim within the stated jurisdictional limits. Small claims actions are excluded, and so are actions to collect assessments, though the notice before a lien under section 5660 still offers the owner a chance at alternative dispute resolution.
The mechanics. A party starts by serving a Request for Resolution containing a brief description of the dispute and a request for alternative dispute resolution. The other party has 30 days to accept, and if they do not accept within that period the request is deemed rejected. Once accepted, the process must be completed within 90 days after the requesting party receives the acceptance, unless extended by written stipulation. When suit is filed, section 5950 requires a certificate stating that the process was completed, that the other side refused, or that preliminary injunctive relief was necessary. Filing without it invites a demurrer or a motion to strike. Under section 5960, a court may consider whether a party's refusal to participate before the action was reasonable when it decides attorney fees.
The HOA180 Online Assistant answers homeowner questions from your community's own governing documents, and it knows the California rules that sit above them, so an answer about notice or rentals lines up with both. It cites the section it pulled from, and anything it cannot answer goes to your manager. $99 a month, and your board still makes every decision.
See it at aiskhoa.com →This page summarizes California law as we understand it. It is written for orientation, not for reliance.
Statutes change, courts interpret them, and your governing documents may impose stricter or different requirements than the Act does. Nothing here creates an attorney client relationship, and no summary can account for the facts of your community. Before your board acts on a deadline, a fine, a lien, an election, or an amendment, confirm it with your association's legal counsel.
HOA180 is not a law firm and does not practice law. Where a section above states a specific number of days or dollars, we have taken it from the current Civil Code section cited alongside it; where the Act does not set a number, we have said so rather than supply one.
Last reviewed August 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will check it.
Tell us what your community is stuck on. We will tell you honestly whether one of our tools fixes it, and if it doesn't, we'll say so.
Get in touch (949) 881-7071