CIC What? Terminology 101

Started by SteveH35 • 13 replies • 357 views

💬 Join us to post & get advice from 50,000 HOA & Condo leaders.

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in

SteveH35 (Washington)
Posts: 339

Posted:

Here's a thread for everyone who wants to talk terminology. CIC (common interest communities) and CID (common interest developments) have been used extensively in academic writing about this space for over 30 years. One of the reasons for the use of these terms is to avoid the use of "HOA" (which is intended to reference a specific type of common interest community: a homeowners association) as a general catch-all. Many people who call their condominium association (COA) an HOA. "HOA" has a bad name. COA does not.

99.9%+ of the public has never read an academic piece about common interest communities. A majority of that work (including books and journal articles) were published two to three decades ago during a period of discovery and realization. For that reason alone, it's not difficult to imagine that the general public, even those folks who live in a COA or HOA or PID aren't familiar with the term "CIC" or "CID." Despite the lack of familiarity, those terms capture the essence of all forms of developments that employ a common interest paradigm: there's a set of recorded covenants (declaration / CC&Rs), allocated interests, assessments, etc.

Regards,
Steve

DavidG45 (Delaware)
Posts: 994

Posted:

I actually think of them as two separate things. A "Common Interest Community" describes the type of community that exists and the legal relationship between the individual owners. An HOA is an organization designed to manage a Common Interest Community. My community is defined, in Delaware, as a CIC. However, there is a non-profit corporation that has been created to manage this community. That corporation is our home owner's association.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

Thank You David. Good explanation. I use HOA or COA. Occasionally PID or POA. CIC does not quite fit the term we here use. No one here is self conscious to avoid using HOA or COA.

Former HOA President

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 501

Posted:

I'm the HOA President. Not the CIC President.

If I were to start calling ourselves a CIC in our community, people would be very confused, and probably worried.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

I'd never seen CIC until Steve started posing. In CA all homeowner associations are legally called CIDs, and legislation makes no distinction between condos and detached homes. The common language here is HOA for detached homes or for condos. A widely syndicated newsprint column on Saturdays in CA is "HOA Homefront" by HOA attorney, Kelly Richardson. I strongly recommend it to all CA posters and even those outside CA for its well-written, commonsense advice that often applies to all associations.

It's different though, as pointed out, in TX, FL, SC and, I imagine, others where there's different state laws for condos than for detached homes. So, here, I've taken to writing association or assn. It'd be great if posters would write at the outset if their assn. is condos or detached homes in states where the distinction matters. But many new posters do not know there's a difference in their own state.

(It'd also be great if posters would start out by stating if they're board members.)

SteveH35 (Washington)
Posts: 339

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MichaelT21 on 06/23/2022 8:46 AM
I'm the HOA President. Not the CIC President.

If I were to start calling ourselves a CIC in our community, people would be very confused, and probably worried.

CIC is not a replacement for the actual type of organization that exists. CIC is an umbrella term for HOAs, COAs, PIDs and other. You live in an HOA community. I live in a COA community. Both of these communities are CICs. It's that simple.

SteveH35 (Washington)
Posts: 339

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By KerryL1 on 06/23/2022 8:54 AM
I'd never seen CIC until Steve started posing. In CA all homeowner associations are legally called CIDs, and legislation makes no distinction between condos and detached homes. The common language here is HOA for detached homes or for condos. A widely syndicated newsprint column on Saturdays in CA is "HOA Homefront" by HOA attorney, Kelly Richardson. I strongly recommend it to all CA posters and even those outside CA for its well-written, commonsense advice that often applies to all associations.

Most states have separate statutes for different types of CICs (also based on when a community was formed). CICs and CIDs and CIDs are CICs. HOAs are CICs. So are COAs. So are PIDs. So are master planned communities.

The accepted term industry-wide is CIC. It's valid in every state and across continents. You'll find this term used in print dating back decades because of the desire to encompass all the different types of developments generally.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Quote:

I agree.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

I ac truly have read a fair amount of the literature on HOA, including scholarly pieces, and I have never seen CIC. Use it if you wish here, but you will get as to its meaning.

DavidG45 (Delaware)
Posts: 994

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By KerryL1 on 06/23/2022 10:14 AM
I ac truly have read a fair amount of the literature on HOA, including scholarly pieces, and I have never seen CIC. Use it if you wish here, but you will get as to its meaning.

I know in at least some states CIC is used in their laws, but again, it refers to the community and the relationship among homeowners in that community. The HOA is the actual corporation that manages the CIC. They are two different things. New Jersey has the following definitions in their code:

2A:62A-12. Definitions
As used in this act:

a. "Association" means the entity responsible for the administration of a common interest community in which 75% or more units have been conveyed to unit owners other than the developer pursuant to subsection a. of section 2 of P.L. 1979, c. 157 (C. 46:8B-12.1), which association may be incorporated or unincorporated.

b. "Bylaws" mean the governing regulations adopted by a common interest community for the administration and management of the property.

c. "Common interest community" means real estate with respect to which a person, by virtue of his ownership of a unit, is obligated to pay for real estate taxes, insurance premiums, maintenance or improvement of other real estate described in the declaration. Ownership of a unit does not include holding a leasehold interest of less than 20 years in a unit, including renewal options. Common interest communities shall include, but not be limited to, condominiums and cooperatives.

d. "Declaration" means any instrument, however denominated, which creates a common interest community, including any amendment to that instrument.

SteveH35 (Washington)
Posts: 339

Posted:

Quote:

Just for reference, here's a list academic articles that use the term. Search the web for "common interest community" and you'll find an endless string of results.

UCIOA? Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. Common Interest is the key. Common Interest Communities. You live in them. You govern them. You loathe them. Best wishes. I don't understand anyone who wants to debate the use of the term CICs. This was intended to be educational. I hope someone learned something valuable.

Co-opted Living: As condos and other CICs proliferate, so do rules and conflicts that lawyers increasingly are being asked to sort out

Building Community in CICs: The Promise of the Restatement (Third) of Servitudes

Making Common Interest Communities Work: The Next Step

Privatization and Its Discontents: CICs and the Rise of Government for "the Nice"

Does It Take a Village: Privatization, Patterns of Restrictiveness and the Demise of Community

Remedies for Common Interest Development Rule Violations

Putting the "Community" Back in Common Interest Communities: A Proposal for Participation-Enhancing Procedural Review

In Search of the Middle-Ground: Protecting the Existing Rights of Prior Purchasers in CICs

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

Now that been properly educated can I still use the term HOA? It has not killed anyone yet or made them dumber for doing so.

Former HOA President

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

Look, Steve, I don't doubt that you'd seen the acronym CIC many, many times. I'm not debating anything. I'm only saying that I won't use it here as the vast majority of posters use" HOA "and this, after all, "HOA Talk."

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

🎯 You've read this entire discussion

Join the conversation with 50,000 HOA & Condo Leaders:

✓ Ask follow-up questions
✓ Share your experience
✓ Get expert advice
✓ Access 350,000 discussions

Create Free Account →

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in here