Epsten, APC

California Associations are subject to the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) and Unruh Act (“Unruh”). Unruh prohibits age discrimination. FHA prohibits familial status discrimination. “Familial status” discrimination is discrimination against a minor who resides with a parent, legal guardian, or person having authorized custody of the child. Qualified senior communities are generally exempted from these prohibitions. Use restrictions and rules should be scrutinized to ensure they do not discriminate against children in content or application.

Within 21 days of payment of the sums specified in the notice of delinquent assessment, the association shall record or cause to be recorded in the office of the county recorder in which the notice of the delinquent assessment is recorded, a lien release or notice of rescission and provide the owner of the separate interest a copy of the lien release or notice that the delinquent assessment has been satisfied. See Civil Code section 5685.

A construction schedule is a time-based plan to construct a project. The two most common types of construction schedules are bar chart schedules and CPM (critical path method) schedules. The ideal baseline or as-planned schedule is the earliest complete and approved project schedule. The critical path determines the project’s completion date, and represents the longest continuous sequence of work. This is the sequence of work that must be progressed to avoid delays to the project completion date. A critical path exists on almost every project, and is dynamic and can change throughout the course of the project. Impacts to the critical path can result in a project delay.

Cigarette smoke is deemed a health hazard by various governmental agencies, and cigarette smoke that emanates from one area of association property to another constitutes a nuisance. Associations are increasingly taking steps, whether by CC&R amendment or rule adoption, to prohibit or restrict smoking in common areas, exclusive use areas and even inside units. The laws establishing smoke-free environments are evolving to support smoke-free condominium associations (at least in common areas).

The condominium plan is the underlying document creating condominiums. It is often recorded even before the CC&Rs. The condominium plan should define the various components of an association including unit, common area, exclusive common area, balcony, yard, etc. These documents are often very illuminating when seeking to understand where the association’s maintenance responsibility ends and the owners’ begins. See Article, Condominium Plan: Understanding This Often Overlooked Document.

Cost Plus construction contracts call for the owner to pay the actual cost of the work plus a negotiated fee to the contractor, which fee may be either a fixed amount or some percentage of the contractor’s cost. Cost plus contracts are typically used on projects where the scope of work is not fully known or completed, or where certain facets of the work are uncertain. It is imperative that a cost plus contract clearly define all items to be included as costs. The cost plus contract with a guaranteed maximum price (“GMP”) is almost identical to the cost plus contract except that in the cost plus with a GMP, the contractor commits to complete the scope of work for an amount not to exceed the guaranteed maximum price, thereby shifting the risk of excess construction costs to the contractor.

A lawsuit brought in a court of law in which typically alleges that a  party, the plaintiff, has incurred a loss and/or seeks affirmative relief as a result of another party’s (the defendant) actions or inactions A civil action typically seeks monetary relief and/or  equitable relief.  Typical civil actions include breach of contract actions, negligence, breach of CC&Rs and statutory violations.

A condominium project is one of the four types of CIDs that are considered common interest developments in Civil Code section 4100. A condominium project consists of “condominiums.” A condominium is a form of land and property ownership in which the owner holds legal title to a three-dimensional space that may be filled with air, earth, water, construction materials or virtually any other material. The three dimensional spaces are described on a recorded document known as a condominium plan. A condominium also includes an ownership in the common area that is shared with other condominium owners. The ownership maybe expressed as a fraction or a percentage of the common area parcel or parcels. See Civil Code section 4125.

A recorded document (generically referred to as the “declaration” of “conditions, covenants and restrictions” or “CC&Rs”) setting forth use restrictions governing the common interest development, making membership in the association, and payment of assessments, mandatory. “CC&Rs” may also refer to recorded amendments of the original CC&Rs. For CC&Rs first recorded after January 1, 1996, the declaration has to contain a legal description of the development, a statement identifying the development as one of four types of common interest developments, the name of the association, the use restrictions, and (occasionally) other statutorily-mandated items. Civ. Code §§4250, 4255.

Membership classes are memberships that differ in their voting rights. They typically exist in developer-controlled associations and different and usually greater voting rights for developers than members in board elections and votes to amend the governing documents. Developers are typically entitled to three votes for each property owned until one of several triggering events occurs. Owners are typically called Class A members and developers are Class B members. When a specified triggering event happens, Class B members become Class A members with one-for-one voting rights. See Bureau of Real Estate (“BRE”) Reg. 2792.18. In master associations, there may be Class C members under which the developer is entitled to elect a majority of the board until a specified triggering event occurs. See BRE Reg. 2792.32.