Recent Court Rulings

Facts: A community association hired a management company to handle all aspects of maintaining the community, including notifying members of delinquencies and other assessment and dues issues.

Facts: A resident rented a condo unit for three years from its owner, who was a member of the community’s homeowners association. She lived there with her minor daughter under a month-to-month tenancy. Allegedly, the resident was under medical supervision for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Facts: An association maintained flood insurance for five of the buildings in its multi-building property. All five buildings were in flood zones as designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The association later decided not to renew the flood insurance policy, citing concerns regarding cost and the allocation of the expense among the other members of the association who lived in the non-flood exposed buildings.

Recent cases from California and New York—involving families with children and reasonable accommodation requests, respectively—highlight the importance of staff training in fair housing law in order to avoid discrimination complaints.

Families with children. A California condominium community recently had to pay more than $1.1 million to settle a class action lawsuit involving hundreds of current and former residents with children under 14, who lived there from 2011 through mid-2017.

Facts: A condominium unit owner alleged that a board of directors election for the community had been improperly conducted. He claimed that there were statutory violations. He asked a trial court for declaratory relief—that is, a judgment of a court that determines the rights of the parties without ordering anything be done or awarding damages—but the court denied it. The unit owner appealed.

Decision: A California appeals court affirmed.

Facts: A condominium member asserted that a resolution in the governing documents, which classified certain association records as “primary and/or protected records” that couldn’t be inspected by members, was invalid. The member asked a trial court to order the association to produce 10 types of records that she had asked the association to provide, but that it refused to.

Decision: A Pennsylvania trial court invalidated the resolution. It ordered the association to permit the member to inspect and view the documents.

Homeowners in a planned community asked a trial court for a temporary injunction, prohibiting their neighbors from renting out their home to vacationers for a profit. (A temporary injunction orders a party to do or not do something while a court case is pending.) The homeowners asserted that the rental of the home violated the restrictive covenants of the association, in part because they were using the home for nonresidential purposes—that is, operating a hotel.

Facts: A homeowners association alleged that a homeowner breached the covenant to pay assessments for common area maintenance and other services necessary to operate the community. He had unpaid dues totaling over $15,000. The homeowner contested the reasonableness of the charges. The association asked a trial court for a judgment in its favor without a trial.

Decision: A Pennsylvania trial court ruled in favor of the association.

Facts: Two homeowners in a planned community complained about the election and qualifications of the people elected to the board of the association. They became concerned when the developer of the community, in accordance with the bylaws of the association, turned over certain common areas of real property to the association. The bylaws required that members of the association board resign and a new election be held by members of the association after that happened. However, that was not done.