Blog

By Kristin Amarillas, CMCA, AMS, PCAM 

CRIME IS ON the rise throughout California. This is not a general statement; it is a fact that has been shared with community managers throughout the state by local law enforcement. And it is not the first time we have heard this; in fact, we hear it every year. Since crime is regularly on the rise, we need to take steps to assist us in living with it in a way that will best prepare the community from being a target.

With so many options to address crime prevention, it can be difficult to decide how to proceed, especially when some are costly or require a good deal of labor and follow-up to be impactful. The truth is, the best crime prevention programs will always require a great deal of labor. If the efforts implemented are put in place and then left to be autonomous, they will become ineffective or disarmed quickly.

Gates, cameras, security (courtesy patrol, stationary, or armed guards), lighting, and a neighborhood watch program are the most...

Thank you to our sponsors and CAI BayCen members who joined us in a spectacular game of golf as we hosted our 26th Annual Golf Classic on Monday, June 6th at Crow Canyon Country Club, Danville. It was a beautiful day for golf and we hope everyone had a wonderful time. Here are some of our favorite photos. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year. 

By Melissa Bauman Ward, Esq. 

When it comes to surveillance cameras – both for associations and members – policy considerations should be examined carefully.

SURVEILLANCE CAMERA SYSTEMS FOR ASSOCIATIONS

The presence of surveillance cameras in homeowners associations is not uncommon. Cameras are used for everything from crime deterrence to creating evidence of crimes (particularly theft and destruction of property) to figuring out who is leaving furniture by the dumpsters or not cleaning up after their dog. The predominant issue revolves around a member/resident’s right to privacy.

COMMON AREA PLACEMENT

Surveillance cameras typically point toward the common area, including the sidewalks, parking areas, driveway areas, landscaped areas, trash enclosures, and other recreational areas. Because anyone walking on the common area past the cameras will be caught on tape, so to speak, and will have their likenesses recorded, there is concern that their privacy will be violated as a result....

By Noel Browning, Aquatic Biologist at SOLitude Lake Management

Lakes, rivers, beaches, and even swimming pools have beneficial effects on the well-being of visitors that are hard to define. Water is not only essential for our survival, it has a profoundly relaxing and refreshing impact on people’s mental health and happiness. Human beings will always be inextricably connected to water physically, mentally, and spiritually. This helps explain why communities near large water systems are common vacation destinations and highly desirable places for residential communities. It also underscores the importance of preserving our precious aquatic resources.

Maintaining balanced aquatic ecosystems is more important than ever as water scarcity, eutrophication, drought, and increasing demand continue to cause depletion and degradation of water quality worldwide. Water pollution can lead to harmful algal blooms, toxicity, nuisance and invasive aquatic weed growth, bad odors, and taste issues in...

By Sydney DeMarco and Rachel Selwan, CED

Business development within the common interest development industry has always been an interesting study in both human relationships and the thin line between friendship and work. Most of our members who have the title of business developer or client services are actively marketing for their companies. They are associated with whatever services their companies offer, while at the same time, they are somehow their own separate entities. Typical marketing representatives aren’t just selling their companies to buyers, they’re selling themselves (not in a derogatory way, although some have blurred the line into a morally gray area), who they are, what their companies do and, by extension, the resources their companies have to offer to help make their clients lives easier.

Marketing has largely consisted of inviting clients to a wide range of fun events, whether it be out for a meal or coffee, or to sporting events or concerts. Office visits an...

By Andrea O’Toole, Rachel Miller, Tim Stauffer and Mary Prados Peterson

By now, most have seen the awful images of the collapsed Champlain Towers which resulted in nearly 100 deaths, countless injuries, property damage and unanswered questions about how this could have happened. While not every case of deferred maintenance has such catastrophic results, the Bay Area is not without its own examples. Six people died following a 2015 balcony collapse in Berkeley. That tragedy resulted in legislation affecting apartment buildings and, subsequently, condominium buildings. The protection of human life and avoidance of injury should be primary goals in determining why, when, and how community associations undertake maintenance, repair, and replacement. At the same time, protection of the property, and the association members’ significant investment in it, is also a key objective.

The authors of this article – a structural engineer, a community association project manager, a construction def...

By Becky Jolly, CCAM & Jasmine Hale, Esq., CCAL

All too often, when managers, counsel, and experts warn boards and their communities that the failure to maintain their association’s infrastructure can result in liability and create safety hazards, the calls for action fall on deaf ears. Sometimes those deaf ears lead to recalls when the board is attempting to do the right thing and move forward with lasting repairs to the failed infrastructure. Doing what is right sometimes means making the unpopular and hard decisions.

So, what should the board do when the siding has failed, balconies are about to fall off, or the association is underfunded in their reserves and cannot realistically pay for its upcoming SB 326 inspections? Oftentimes, there is no way these projects can wait when life potentially hangs in the balance. Here we will try to answer these questions by focusing on the legal issues and strategies for assisting communities in successfully navigating the process to implement ...

By Stephen T. Brindle, Esq.

This article first appeared in the Winter 2022 Issue of The Communicator here.

RENTAL RESTRICTIONS

Brown v. Montage at Mission Hills, Inc.

Background: Brown bought a condominium unit to use as a vacation rental. At the time of the purchase, the association’s governing documents did not contain any restrictions regarding shortterm rentals. Sixteen years after Brown purchased the unit, the association amended its governing documents to include a 30-day minimum rental period restriction. After the association told Brown that it intended to enforce the restriction against her unless she stopped use of her unit for short-term rentals, Brown sued the association, claiming that the restriction did not apply to her because she purchased the unit prior to the effective date of the amendment. In its defense, the association claimed that the restriction was in fact a regulation, not a restriction, and also that shortterm rentals violated the commercial use prohibit...

By Nathan R. McGuire, Esq.

This article first appeared in the Winter 2022 Issue of The Communicator here.

On balance, the industry fared well in this last legislative session. The prior two years in a row, we faced some of the most historically significant bills since the Davis-Stirling Act came into effect in 1986. And we’re still dealing with those bills (think SB 323, AB 670, AB 3182). That’s saying a lot considering the Davis-Stirling Act has been perpetually amended year after year. Overall, the legislature continued to focus on COVID-19, economic recovery, and housing affordability issues. But the legislature was also able to fit in bills on other topics, including many which will have a lasting impact on community associations.

CAI’s California Legislative Action Committee monitored more than 50 bills and engaged on at least 10 of them. We had an outstanding year as we continued to pivot and take advantage of virtual legislative opportunities and we had a higher level of gras...

By Vivian X. Tran, Esq.

This article first appeared in the Fall 2021 Issue of The Communicator here.

Since the pandemic, followers of the real estate market will notice that the housing market is booming. There are not as many sellers as there are buyers, so the competition is through the roof. Many potential buyers are looking to buy their next homes within an HOA. In the Bay Area, even though many homebuyers waive all contingencies – against my advice as both an attorney and real estate agent – there are still a few conducting investigations (especially for townhomes or condos). Corresponding to the increase of competition to buy homes is an exponential increase in the number of questions from real estate agents and mortgage/escrow companies that are directed toward an HOA and its agents. What should the board of directors and the HOA’s manager be aware of? What should they do in certain situations?

The first thing to understand is that the HOA has no legal obligation to make disc...