The Davis-Stirling Act in California, codified at Civil Code sections 4000 through 6150, is the state law that governs homeowners associations and other common interest developments.1California Legislative Information. California Code 4000 – Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act It controls how boards run meetings, how dues are set and collected, what owners can install on their property, what records you can demand, and how disputes are supposed to be resolved before anyone files in court. If you own a condo, a townhome, or a house in a planned community with a mandatory association, this is the statute shaping your rights.
What Communities It Covers
The Act applies to common interest developments, or CIDs: communities that combine individually owned units or lots with shared common areas managed by an association. Four structures qualify:2California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 4100 – Common Interest Development Defined
- Condominium projects, where you own a defined unit of airspace and share ownership of the building’s structure, grounds, and common facilities.
- Planned developments, where you own your lot outright and the association owns and manages separate common area parcels.
- Stock cooperatives, where a corporation owns the entire property and your shares entitle you to occupy a particular unit.
- Community apartment projects, where you hold an undivided interest in the whole property along with an exclusive right to occupy your unit.
To be a CID under the Act, the development must have a recorded declaration filed with the county and mandatory association membership that requires every owner to pay assessments. The procedural rules in the Act apply regardless of which of the four structures your community uses.
Which Document Controls When Rules Conflict
Associations run on layered documents, and when they contradict each other the higher-ranking one wins. Federal and state law sit at the top: the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Davis-Stirling Act itself override anything in your community’s internal documents. Below those laws, the order is:
- The CC&Rs, meaning the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions recorded with the county, which define property use restrictions, assessment obligations, and basic owner and association rights.
- The Articles of Incorporation, which establish the association as a legal entity, typically a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation.
- The Bylaws, which govern board elections, meeting procedures, officer duties, and other internal mechanics.
- Operating rules, covering day-to-day matters like parking, guest policies, or pool hours.3California Legislative Information. California Code 4370 – Operating Rules
Bylaws contradicting the CC&Rs lose. An operating rule that conflicts with the Davis-Stirling Act is void. Amending the CC&Rs themselves requires approval by the percentage of members specified in the declaration, or by a majority of all members if the declaration is silent.
How Boards Must Meet and Decide
The Davis-Stirling Act contains its own Open Meeting Act requiring boards to conduct business transparently.4California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 4900-4955 – Board Meeting The board must give members at least four days’ notice before a regular meeting and at least two days’ notice before an executive session held outside a regular meeting. Every notice must include a specific agenda, and the board generally cannot discuss or vote on items not listed.
Members have the right to observe open sessions and speak during designated comment periods. The board can retreat into executive session only for a narrow set of topics: litigation strategy, contract negotiations, member discipline, personnel matters, and discussions with a member about their payment of assessments. A member facing discipline can demand the discussion occur in executive session rather than open session. Any decision to foreclose on an assessment lien must also be made in executive session.
Minutes or a draft summary of every open board meeting must be made available to members within 30 days. Actions taken in executive session must be reported in general terms at the next open meeting so there is a public record of board activity.
How Elections and Member Votes Work
Board elections and other significant membership votes must follow the secret ballot procedures in Civil Code section 5100.5California Legislative Information. California Code, Civil Code – CIV 5100 Secret ballots are required for:
- Electing or removing directors.
- Assessment increases or special assessments that exceed the board’s authority.
- Amendments to the governing documents.
- Granting exclusive use of common area.
The association must hold an election for each board seat when the director’s term expires, and in all cases at least once every four years. An independent inspector of elections, who cannot be a board member, a current candidate, or anyone related to a candidate, oversees the process. The association’s operating rules can designate additional topics for secret ballot beyond the statutory minimum.
Your Right to See Association Records
You can request access to association records such as tax returns, bank statements, budgets, and financial reports, as well as enhanced records including executed contracts, invoices, and check registers. Your request must state a purpose reasonably related to your interests as a member, and the association cannot demand an unreasonable justification to deny access.
Deadlines depend on how old the records are. The association must produce current fiscal year records within 10 business days and records from the two preceding fiscal years within 30 calendar days. Board meeting minutes follow the 30-day rule above, and minutes of committees with decision-making authority must be available within 15 calendar days of approval.
Before producing documents, the association can redact information that could lead to identity theft (bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers), attorney-client privileged material, disciplinary records of other members, and interior architectural plans containing security features. You can be charged the actual cost of copying and mailing. Redaction fees are capped at $10 per hour and cannot exceed $200 per written request, and the association must give you a cost estimate and get your agreement before doing the redaction work.
Assessments: Caps, Collection, and Foreclosure
Limits on Increases
The board cannot raise regular assessments by more than 20 percent over the prior year’s amount without a vote of the membership. Special assessments face a separate cap: the total of all special assessments in a fiscal year cannot exceed 5 percent of the association’s budgeted gross expenses without member approval. Approval requires a majority of a quorum, and a quorum means more than 50 percent of all members.6California Legislative Information. California Code, Civil Code – CIV 5605 If the governing documents impose stricter limits than these, the stricter limits apply.
The Pre-Lien Notice
If you fall behind on assessments, the association cannot immediately record a lien. At least 30 days before recording, it must send you a written notice by certified mail containing an itemized breakdown of all charges owed, a description of its collection and lien enforcement procedures, and a prominent warning that the property could be sold without court action if assessments remain unpaid. The notice must also inform you of your right to meet with the board about the debt, request internal dispute resolution, and pursue alternative dispute resolution with a neutral third party before foreclosure begins.7California Legislative Information. California Code, Civil Code – CIV 5660
When Foreclosure Is Allowed
An association cannot foreclose on a lien, judicially or nonjudicially, unless the delinquent assessment amount reaches at least $1,800 or the debt is more than 12 months old. The $1,800 threshold counts only base assessments; late fees, interest, attorney’s fees, and collection costs do not count toward it. Below that threshold the association can still record a lien, but it cannot foreclose until the amount grows past $1,800 or ages past 12 months.8California Legislative Information. California Code, Civil Code – CIV 5720
Even after a foreclosure sale, the former owner has a 90-day redemption period from the sale date to reclaim the property by paying the full amount owed.9California Legislative Information. California Code, Civil Code – CIV 5715 The decision to foreclose must be made in executive session, and the owner must be notified of the right to dispute resolution first. Associations that skip these steps risk having the lien or foreclosure invalidated.
One jurisdictional detail matters if your debt gets handed off. When the association turns unpaid assessments over to a third-party collection agency or law firm, the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act applies to that collector. The association collecting on its own behalf is not subject to those federal rules, but the outside collector is, and FDCPA violations carry their own penalties on top of the Davis-Stirling protections.
Who Fixes What
Unless the CC&Rs say otherwise, the Act sets the default. The association repairs, replaces, and maintains the common area. Each owner repairs, replaces, and maintains their own separate interest. Exclusive use common areas, like a balcony or patio assigned to a specific unit, split the duties: the owner handles day-to-day maintenance, and the association covers repair and replacement.10California Legislative Information. California Code, Civil Code – CIV 4775
A leaking pipe inside a wall is the kind of problem that produces real disputes about which side of the line it falls on. Check your CC&Rs first. Many older declarations assign more maintenance to the association than the statute’s baseline; some newer ones push more onto owners. The statutory defaults apply only when the declaration is silent.
What the Association Cannot Prohibit
Solar Energy Systems
California’s Solar Rights Act, at Civil Code section 714, voids any governing document provision that effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts a solar energy system. The association can impose restrictions, but only if they do not increase system cost by more than $1,000 or reduce efficiency by more than 10 percent. If you submit a solar installation application and the association does not deny it in writing within 45 days, it is deemed approved. Willful violations expose the association to actual damages plus a civil penalty of up to $1,000, with attorney’s fees available to the homeowner.
Electric Vehicle Chargers
Any governing document provision that prohibits or unreasonably restricts installing a charging station in your deeded parking space or exclusive use common area is void. The association can require an application and must process it as it would any architectural modification. If the application is not denied in writing within 60 days, it is automatically approved. Willful violations carry actual damages, up to $1,000 in civil penalties, and attorney’s fees to the prevailing homeowner.11California Legislative Information. California Code, Civil Code – CIV 4745
Renting Out Your Unit
Under Civil Code section 4741, an association cannot adopt or enforce a document provision that prohibits or unreasonably restricts rentals. Specifically, it cannot restrict rentals to less than 25 percent of the total separate interests in the development. The boundary: the association can still ban short-term or transient rentals of 30 days or less, so Airbnb-style vacation rentals remain fair game for HOA prohibition. Willful violations carry actual damages and up to $1,000 in civil penalties.
Satellite Dishes and Antennas
Federal law adds another layer. The FCC’s Over-the-Air Reception Devices (OTARD) rule bars associations from enforcing restrictions that prevent or unreasonably delay installation of satellite dishes one meter or smaller, TV antennas, and certain fixed wireless antennas. The rule covers areas under your exclusive use or control, like a balcony, patio, or yard. It does not reach true common areas such as shared rooftops or building exteriors. Safety and historic preservation restrictions remain enforceable if they do not effectively block installation.12Federal Communications Commission. Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule
Fair Housing and Accessibility Obligations
The federal Fair Housing Act applies to every California association regardless of what the governing documents say. When a resident with a disability requests a reasonable accommodation, such as keeping an assistance animal despite a no-pets rule or installing a wheelchair ramp, the association must engage in an interactive process to evaluate the request. It can ask for documentation from a healthcare professional verifying the disability and the need for the accommodation, but it must keep that information confidential and decide within a reasonable timeframe.
The Americans with Disabilities Act adds requirements when the association opens its facilities to the general public. If the community charges non-members to use the pool, regularly hosts outside groups, or operates an office that the public visits, the common areas must meet ADA accessibility standards for entrances, walkways, restrooms, and parking. Allowing members’ personal guests does not trigger ADA obligations; inviting the general public does. Associations that never open their doors to the public still face Fair Housing accommodation duties.
Resolving a Dispute Before Court
Two structured options are built into the Act before anyone files suit. Internal dispute resolution, or IDR, is a direct meeting between you and the board or a board-designated representative. Either side can request IDR for any dispute involving rights, duties, or liabilities under the Act, the governing documents, or the Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation Law.
Alternative dispute resolution, or ADR, brings in a neutral third party, typically a mediator. The Act treats ADR as a prerequisite to filing an enforcement action in court. The pre-lien notice described above must specifically inform the owner of the right to request ADR before the association pursues foreclosure.7California Legislative Information. California Code, Civil Code – CIV 5660
Disclosures When a Unit Is Sold
When a unit or lot in a CID changes hands, the seller must provide the buyer with a set of documents before the transfer closes.13California Legislative Information. California Code, Civil Code – CIV 4525 These include copies of all governing documents (CC&Rs, bylaws, operating rules), the most recent annual budget report and financial disclosures, a written statement from the association showing current regular and special assessment amounts along with any unpaid balances on the unit, and copies of any unresolved violation notices. If the buyer requests them, the association must also provide the past 12 months of approved board meeting minutes. Any rental restrictions in the governing documents must be specifically disclosed as well. Skipping these disclosures can expose the seller to liability and give the buyer grounds to rescind the transaction.