FYI-California SB 918

In an effort to eliminate confusion as to how community association owners receive communication from their associations, the California Legislature has placed on the owner the burden of updating their addresses of record for association notification.

On September 28, 2016 Governor Brown signed in to law SB 918 which adds Civil Code Section 4041 to the Davis Stirling act.  Effective January 1, 2017, owners must provide annual written notice to the association of the following:

The Address or addresses to which notices from the association are to be delivered.
An alternate or secondary address to which notices from the association are to be delivered.
The name and address of the owner’s legal representative, if any, including any person with power of attorney or other person who can be contacted in the event of the owner’s extended absence from the separate interest.
Whether the separate interest is owner-occupied, is rented out, if the parcel is developed but vacant, or if the parcel is undeveloped land.
Although the language of this new reporting requirement seems to place the burden on the owner, this new law places additional obligations on associations (and most likely their community association managers). Civil Code Section 4041 obligates associations to solicit these address notifications from owner annually.  Associations must then enter the information received from notices received into the association’s books and records at least 30 days prior to mailing the association’s annual budget report disclosures under Section 5300. Fortunately, SB 918 contains a default provision– If an owner fails to provide the required notices, the property address within the association is deemed the address to which notices are to be delivered.

Like most new community association legislation, there will be an adjustment period. Associations must now schedule the solicitation of this owner information well in advance of the annual disclosure to allow management sufficient time to update its data base with the newly acquired owner address information. In turn, associations must budget for increased management expense to prepare the address solicitation and to update the associations data base.

While SB 918 imposes yet another layer of micromanagement on community association administration, in the end, the address reporting requirements in this new law will lead to more accurate owner data bases and the greater likelihood that owners will receive important community association communication.

Thanks, Richard. while aware of the legislation, I hadn't and still haven't read it--but I will. Do you happen to know how this part works: "if property is rented out." We have a few that are rented nine months and the Owner occupies them 3-4 a year.

Is it also the case that this request for info can be sent online & not via US mail? And Owners can reply via online?

Finally, what do you think of sending this request along with annual election materials? The timing for us is good, but maybe alread too many materials in that mailer.

Here's a link about California HOAs and email communication - http://www.hughes-gill.com/pdf/Everything_You_Need_to_Know_to_Send_Association_Documents_Via_E-Mail.pdf

This was written in 2011, but I imagine it's the same, with this new statute tossed in the mix. I just buzzed through it, but it appears if a homeowner has agreed to accept all communications from the HOA via email, you shouldn't have any trouble sending your request that way.

If you already have a lot of stuff in your annual meeting packet, perhaps you can distribute it directly to homeowners at that meeting or mail it out on another date. Having an online form would be a great way to reduce printing and postage costs, so that should be encouraged.

I also looked at one of Tim's links - it appears the owner has to tell the association if the house is owner-occupied, rented out, undeveloped or vacant. In your example, you could have the owner tell you when he/she will be in the house and when it'll be occupied by someone else, along with that person's contact information. I would also require the homeowner notify the association of any changes when they occur, along with an effective date of the change.