Reasons for Amending CC&Rs?

I'm on our board of 7 and it finally approved a 3-member ad hoc Committee to explore the possibility of amending or rewriting our 15-year old CC&Rs for our 15 y.o. multi-story HOA. Last year, funds were "earmarked" for this potential project for this year. Our HOA attorney, who knows our CC&Rs very well, thinks about $5,500. Then they'll be postage for mailers (must vote by mail in CA); and follow ups to those who haven't voted. Our current CC&Rs are 120 pages. We'll need 67% of all Owners to approve it.

Note how wishy washy my language above is. That's because a minority on the Board sees no need to rewrite or revise the CC&Rs.

It's to persuade this minority that I'm asking you good folks the questions. I know the specific ones, which involve simplifying the complexities, i.e, three operating budgets, three reserves budgets due to two "special benefit areas." I guess they are like the "sub-associations" I see sometimes on this forum.

So give me 2-3 strong general reasons to restate old CC&Rs. More if you can!

Please do not--at this time--provide a step by step re: HOW to revise; the steps to take.. I'll ask that one later IF we get the green light from the Board.

(I've used revised, amend, restate and rewrite; I think the changes will be fundamental and sweeping, so I think it'll be a rewrite or restatement of them.)

Many thanks for your help.

The real question that you would need to answer is what the majority's objective is in restating the CCRs.

Any new laws would take would trump (nasty word) over existing governing documents, where they might apply.

Unless you have a worthwhile objective, shelve the idea and the expenses that go with it.

Thanks Richard & Tim. Our Board has, indeed, complied with new legislation, but o it might be nice for our Ownrs to see this in our CC&Rs, e.g, requirements for satellite dishes.

The specific reasons to restate are: how to calculate the special benefit areas' (SBAs) dues only is found in the developer's original Dept. of RE budget. Both our reserves analyst and a certified budget analyst have suggested in writing that these calculations be in the CC&Rs itself or at least in an appendix.

Our current HOA GC says of the 1,000 CC&Rs he's reviewed interpreted, etc., only 10% are as complicated as ours. The lead accountant for our Mgmt. Co. says the same thing and they have a LOT of accounts. These complex budgets have led to errors by both our past reserves analysts and our past & current MCs. The errors have caused one group of owners to be charged too much in dues and another too little.

There might be good reasons to do away entirely with one SBA.

We have a sq. ft. variables where the larger units pay more than the smaller ones for three things: gas, bldg. ins. and water. The original assumption was that the larger units would have more occupants than the smaller ones & use more of those utilities. But they in general have about two residents in each just like the smaller ones. Bldg. ins. makes sense. Maybe window washing would--the 2,600sf penthouses have way more windows than the units of 1,040-1,300sf.

Or perhaps there should be a variable for those on higher floors paying more than lower ones, i.e., 25th food vs. 3rd floor. The elevator reserves and electricity to run them are very expensive.

Our CC&Rs permit only 1 year contracts for many services, e.g pest control, copier rental, landscaping, mgmt. etc. But some vendors offer special deals if we'd sign up for 3 years. (We still, of course, would keep our 30-day "out" clause).

Other general ideas welcome!

Kerry

Plead your case on the economic advantages of a rewrite not on the legal aspect. Saving money interests people. Legal matters make their eyes gloss over.

Kerry L1 I should have added : if necessary updating or adjusting internal ADR dispute resolution provisions to avoid externalizing costs etc.

Kerry

The tipping point may be the following:

Your HOA now has a group of people who are personally invested in getting this time consuming chore done. This moment in time does not last forever. People will lose interest. People will lose focus. Things can't remain in limbo forever.

If a group of volunteers came forward and were willing to carry the ball at nominal expense, they would definitely have my attention. If there was risk that they would disband, you might get me motivated to give a thumbs up.

Thanks for your reply, too, Melissa. We DO need some words about electric vehicles as CA law say we may not refuse requests to wire chargers to individual deeds parking spaces in our underground garage. BUT, it's so expensive, building permit needed, etc., no one has wanted to pay for it themselves. And there's no CA requirement that the Board pay for such installation.

If we weren't a high rise, a section on solar panels would make a lot of sense.

Tim mentioned rental limitations and a specific reason to rewire our CC&Rs is that the existing language is too vague. Our former HOA attorney interpreted it that we only could limit rental to 8 day minimum. But the board ignored his opinion and made a rule for 30 days. This really needs to be clarified IN the CC&Rs an the big majority of Owners her want lints of at least 30 days.

Thank you, Crystal. Our CC&R Comm. of 3 met yesterday and will rec to the Board that we go forward. Part of our plan is, indeed, to survey Owners. Part of it WILL be to get their opinions, and another part is to start ginning up interest. We DO have the rental limitation change to 30 or even 60 days, which most Owners see as very favorable since we live in a popular resort-type area with a lot of special events, entertainment venues, and a convention center within a few blocks.

One of our problems in getting out the vote is 30% of our Owners are landlords. But they voted in our last directors election (annual mtg.) at a better rate than those who live here, which surprised me. CA permits absentee voting, which counts those voters as present. Total Voter turnout was about 50%.

Also in CA, IF over 50% vote to approve, the courts can and most likely will approve our rewrite. This is common, apparently.

You are right, NpS, we have two volunteers. I've wanted to do this for a long time but no interest form the Board. There was a homeowner who was very interested & had served on the Board here & elsewhere. But he died.

Now, two new Board members want change and a new Owner, a youngish, but retired attorney, is very interested and is chairing the Committee. She's a real go-getter and already joined our Finance Comm. a few months ago.