Governor Mike Dunleavy signed a piece of legislation into law relating to horizontal property regimes and common interest communities. Sen. Josh Revak, sponsor of SB 143, said that the legislation fixes a decades-old disparity that’s been hurting homeowners in older associations.
In speaking earlier this year on the Senate floor, Sen. Revak said:
“It really is a simple bill and it’s a good bill not just because of the sponsor but because this came to us from a constituent who’s experienced the problems that this bill solves over many, many years. We all know somebody in a homeowner or a condo association – back in 1986, the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act or UCIOA did a major overhaul to the statutes governing homeowner’s associations and condo owner’s associations, but two issues were left that still negatively affected those associations who were intact prior to UCIOA’s passage.”
Sen. Revak said that the legislation fixes a disparity involving homeowners in associations created before 1986 relating to punishment for other delinquent homeowners. When a homeowner stops paying their dues or abandons their house in a homeowner’s association created after 1986, Revak said the HOA’s can collect 6 months of their unpaid dues once the home is foreclosed upon. HOA’s created before then must eat those costs, often having to pass the cost directly to the other homeowners in the association.
Additionally, if a homeowner’s association intends to amend a governing document, written consent is required from all the lienholders of each individual property before said amendment is approved, however, written responses such as consent are sometimes impossible from older homeowner’s associations, thus this legislation considers a lack of a response within 60 days consent.
Sen. Revak also said that homeowner’s associations will still have to go through the process of receiving consent from the homeowners to change the aforementioned documents and if a required notice is provided to the lienholders, but no response is given, a lack of a response within 60 days is considered consent.
The legislation does not change any requirements for homeowners to approve changes to their governing documents, HOA’s will still have to receive at least 2/3 approval before the rules are changed. It also doesn’t deal with an association’s ability or inability to foreclose on homeowners.
The legislation will affect at least 250 associations that were established before 1986 and 600 that were established after 1986.
Transcribed audio courtesy of KTOO 360TV.