California IDR - who represents the HOA?

IDR (Internal Dispute Resolution)

From Davis-Stirling.com:

"Meet & Confer. Associations must provide a "fair, reasonable and expeditious" procedure for resolving disputes between the association and its members without charging a fee to the member participating in the process. (Civ. Code § 5910.) The process is referred to as "Internal Dispute Resolution" (IDR) or "meet and confer."

So in your experience, who represents the HOA? (Board Member by themselves, Board Member + Community Manager, Board Member + Attorney? Who?)

My HOA only has had a couple of these over many years, so I'm nio really familiar with the process. In our cases, two members of the Board met with the Owner. The two directors, having no decision-making authority, then brought back to the Board their recommendations based on the meeting and the Board, then, decided, what to do next.

Your CC&Rs or possibly bylaws may have more details. The budget & reserves letter that most go to Owners every year also must contain some references to IDR & ADR. So check that package. Your Davis-stirling citation includes a Civil code reference that you also should check.

I cna't remember: Are you on the Board?

If if the current IDR guidelines sent by the association are not current, Civil Code still prevails.

So I checked at Davis-stirling.com and You & Max understand the situation the way I do too. hope you hear from them soon, James

You may bring an attorney or someone else to the IDR meeting and so may the HOA. Our most recent case was 3 years ago and two directors met with two former directors, both of whom are attorneys. The latter thought they'd been defamed, etc., at a then-recent election where one of them had been defeated (the other's term wasn't up) and two of their pals too.

The two directors, who'd been badly treated by the 2 attorneys and their two pals when all were on the Board just two months earlier together, had to explain to the two attorneys that no defamation occurred since everything said against them in the election campaign was true. The two attorneys let it go. the defeated one sold shortly thereafter. The other resigned from the Board and sold a year later.

A previous IDR was less successful. A married couple a floor above wanted the couple below them to stop smoking tobacco on their balconies although permitted by our HOA at that time. Two Directors met with each party and neither would budge. The complaining couple then sought an ADR, involving the HOA attorney trying to work things out between the two couples, by meeting with them separately. There also was a court mediator involved as I recall. Some of us directors attended and mainly stayed in a conference room for about 3-4 hours. The HOA attorney came in & updated us frequently. The smokers finally gave in and agreed not to smoke on their balcony. Smoking at that time was still allowed in our condo Units, but they chose to ride the elevators to smoke on the exterior of the premises.