Solar/Photovoltaic in CA HOA's

Our California located owner's association is contemplating solar (photovoltaic) installation to reduce our common area electric bills. We want to finance the installation via the PACE program, but they need a valuation of the common area. In California, the common area has no assessed valuation. Have any other Associations in California encountered this issue and if so, how did you get around it?

For financing purposes, they might be looking for a value to act as collateral. Since the value for tax purposes is nil, using that isn't a good option. You might need to hire an appraiser, but valuing property that can't realistically be sold would be tricky.

Linda,

A bit of digging into the PACE program reveals that it uses tax revenue to fund certain improvement projects. Property owners who fund their projects through PACE then agree to repay their loans by paying higher property taxes. Multi-family housing is eligible. See http://energycenter.org/policy/property-assessed-clean-energy-pace

While it appears to be a state-wide program, each city or county administers its own program and does so through contractors, often multiple contractors in the same jurisdiction.

Given the multiplicity of contractors, it may be that the person who asked for the valuation of the common areas is not familiar with how condos work. In a condo, each owner has a deed to his own unit plus an undivided interest in the common areas. There is normally not a separate deed for the common area. An inexperienced person may not know this.

I would recommend responding by citing the state law that prohibits taxing common areas. I would also try to include some authoritative source for how condos are deeded and how they normally operate.