California Notification of Assessment Increase?

I am a member of a community managed by a management company.

We held an election to vote on an assessment increase over 20% in January. The results were certified 2 weeks later and copies were sent out to everyone by email and first class mail I expected within 30 to 60 days to receive a letter from the community manager notifying us of an assessment increase and the date that it would go into effect.

This week I received a letter in the mail from the community manager stating I owed a balance (plus interest and late fees) for the new, higher monthly assessment amount apparently due on 1/1/23, 2/1/23, 3/1/23 and 4/1/23. Our election results were not certified or provided to the owners until 1/20/23.

We pay quite a bit for our management company. The board retained a management company specifically because they were not well informed of the laws that govern HOAs. Sending out notice of a monthly assessment increase I would expect a management company to know is required.

What recourse do I and other owners have in this situation?

Thank you for your reply.

The management company is claiming that the annual budget sent in November notified membership that our assessment would be increasing on 1/1/23. What is confusing and contradictory is that a few weeks after the annual budget was sent out, the board sent another letter and a ballot stating that the increase was over 20% so they were holding an election. The letter from the board said that some of the other owners had pointed out that the numbers for the annual budget were incorrect and the board acknowledged that the annual budget was incorrect. I have spoken to a few owners and none of us were provided with a revised/corrected annual budget. I was not present at the meeting where the votes were counted as it was held while I was away for the holidays. I did receive the certified election results about 2 weeks later on 1/20/23 but it made no mention of when the increased assessment would be going into effect.

In past years we always received minimum 30 days notice of an assessment increase, including ones that required a vote, after the vote by the board or membership had occurred. I am inclined to assume that notification of an increase must be made after it has been voted on? Please correct me if I am wrong.

This was not a special assessment, it was a monthly assessment increase. We pay our assessment monthly to the management company but the management company does not regularly send out invoices or bills to anyone.

I just went and checked the dates on the envelopes as mail service here is not the greatest for prompt delivery. The vote was tabulated a few days before New Years on 12/28/22 and the certified election results were sent by 1st class mail and postmarked 1/13/23. Nothing else was sent related to the monthly assessment increasing.

That's what I thought.

Is my understanding of this correct that the board was required to send out notice of the increase and when it went into effect after it had been voted upon by the owners regardless of whatever the incorrect annual budget stated that was sent in November?

Thank you Max, that's what I thought. I fully expected to receive 30 days notice of the assessment increase on or after the certified election results were mailed to me instead of receiving an invoice with late fees and interest tacked on. I don't entirely believe this was an accidental oversight either as I wrote the community manager not long after the election results were sent to membership asking when we would be receiving notice of the assessment increase and when it went into effect. They never responded.