Governing Documents

In order :

US Constitution (which guarantees us the right to enter binding contracts)

Federal Code of Laws

State Law (incl. any 'HOA' legislation)

County Law

City Law (if any)

Covenants and Restrictions

Rules and Regulations (made by BOD governing common areas)

State Corporate Law

Articles of Incorporation (if any)

Bylaws

[any item 'higher' on the hierarchy 'rules and governs' ALL items lower]

95% of the questions asked here would be answered in simple English IF the above were understood

to the moderator(s): could y'all make this a 'sticky post' ? please do so !

Yes, it does, in fact, apply to Kalifornia

Would even more betterer if one READ what was posted.

translation: oops, he's correct, AGAIN

RoyalP wrote that within the hierarchy the rankings are:

Covenants and Restrictions

Rules and Regulations (made by BOD governing common areas)

State Corporate Law

Articles of Incorporation (if any)

Bylaws
--------------------------------------------
I'm pretty sure in CA it's:

State Corporate Code (if HOA is a corporation)

Covenants; restrictions; Declaration (CC&Rs)

Bylaws

Articles

Rules & Regs

The way you wrote it, RP, a Rule & Reg. can overturn a bylaw and that 's generally not true.

The bylaws regulate the operation of the corporation.

The CCRs grant the BOD the authority to promulgate R&Rs regarding any common element.

John,

Your order of precedence is incorrect.

Yes, definitely in Florida. The Articles of Incorporation are higher in the hierarchy than the Bylaws. And the Rules & Regulations are below the Bylaws.

US Constitution (which guarantees us the right to enter binding contracts)

Federal Code of Laws

State Law (incl. any 'HOA' legislation)

County Law

City Law (if any)

Covenants and Restrictions ------------------V

State Corporate Law V

Articles of Incorporation (if any) V

Bylaws---V V

Rules and Regulations (made by BOD or Trustees governing common areas)

[R&Rs under Bylaws if incorporated, under CCRs if not incorporated]

COMPLEX, not complicated

John,

The order of precedence is:

The Constitution
Federal law
Federal Regulations
State Law
State Regulations
County Codes
City Ordinances
Covenants (aka deed restrictions)
Articles of Incorporation (if association is incorporated)
Bylaws
Resolutions adopted by the Board (typically rules/regulations on common areas, architectural guidelines, etc.)

'bylaws whether' would better read as: 'bylaws regardless of whether or not'

As Richard pointed out, there are unincorporated Associations that have bylaws.

Thank YOU, RPain for putting bylaws where it belongs in the hierarchy.

You are welcome,

however,

I did not move 'bylaws', I moved 'R&Rs'

And, after being WRONG, the world is STILL revolving

Unless, of course, I was wrong about being wrong,

but,

I conceded the point

Yes, but aren't there exceptions in the real world?

While I agree with this, in general, you must read each community's docs; I managed a property where the docs were written so that if the Articles and Bylaws were in conflict the Bylaws controlled (thereby putting them higher in the hierarchy).

It's better to mention specific acts.

For example in California it's civic code 4205:

(a) To the extent of any conflict between the governing documents and the law, the law shall prevail.

(b) To the extent of any conflict between the articles of incorporation and the declaration, the declaration shall prevail.

(c) To the extent of any conflict between the bylaws and the articles of incorporation or declaration, the articles of incorporation or declaration shall prevail.

(d) To the extent of any conflict between the operating rules and the bylaws, articles of incorporation, or declaration, the bylaws, articles of incorporation, or declaration shall prevail.

For Georgia - Georgia condominium act 44-3-75:

In the event of any inconsistency between this article and the provisions of any declaration, this article shall control. Unless otherwise provided in the condominium instruments, in the event of any inconsistency between the declaration and the provisions of any bylaws of the association, the declaration shall control.

but it's not clear where rules are. 44-3-76 states only "reasonable rules or regulations adopted by the association pursuant to the condominium instruments (declaration)"