SB900/Umberg: Your HOA Home: Do You Know What You Own? (You Might be Surprised!)
No – this isn’t a trick question.
- Who owns the floors in your unit or the balcony outside your window or the fence in the backyard?
- If the skylight in your roof is damaged, who pays for the repair – you or the association?
- if there’s a break in the gas lines to your building and the gas company shuts off service, who pays to fix the lines and restore gas to your stove or water heater?
SB900/Umberg raises questions about ownership not just of gas lines but of ALL utility lines delivering gas, heat, water, and electrical services to a subdivision, whether a condo building or a planned development of detached homes. SB900 will make owners responsible to “repair and replace” utility lines if a break in service occurs in a common area.
So where exactly is “the common area” of your subdivision? And where do you get answers about ownership? In three places:
- Your condo MAP (if you’re in a condo) or in your tract MAP (if you’re in a planned development of detached homes.)
- Your CC&Rs (Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions)
- Your condo PLAN
The MAPS and the PLAN have drawings showing easements, units/homes, square footage of units, areas owned in common, exclusive use common areas (EUCAs), etc.
Owners should look for a written document, attached to the MAPS and PLAN, describing –in words — exactly what they own. Why? Because ten years ago Sacramento lawmakers passed AB968/Gordon making owners responsible for “maintaining” not only their “separate interest” [their home] but ALSO any and all “exclusive use common areas,” which could be anything from a drainage channel to wiring inside the walls. [CCHAL and other housing advocates fought this bill on behalf of homeowners.]
SB900 will add to this list. It will make California associations – that is: homeowners — “responsible” to “repair and replace” ALL utility lines when the break occurs in a common area.
The legislation doesn’t say who’s supposed to “maintain” the lines in the first place in order to minimize the need to “repair and replace.” Nor does it define “maintain.”
And where exactly are “common areas”?? Study your MAPS and PLAN to find out. You might be surprised — it’s not just the kids’ play area or the landscaping.
“Where do I find the MAPS and the PLAN?” you ask. You should have been given these when you bought your home. Can’t find them in the filing cabinets in the garage? Ask your realtor for help – or go to the city or county planning departments that approved the subdivision.
We’ve posted sample MAPS and a condo PLAN on the CCHAL website (under SB900/Umberg/2024 Legislation) so you know what you’re looking for https://calhomelaw.org/2024-legislation/
The 200 homeowners of La Veta Monterey condos of Orange County learned the hard way how broken utility lines could impact their lives. Each homeowner got hit with a $4800 emergency assessment to pay a $1 million dollar bill to repair gas lines used by SoCalGas to deliver gas to their condos. The $4800 was due in 30 days under threat of foreclosure.
SB900 will make homeowners pay for breaks in ALL utility lines when the “interruption in service” begins in a common area. (So DID the break occur in a common area of the La Veta condos? No one is saying….)
Sacramento lawmakers will vote on SB900 April 2 — next TUESDAY — in the Senate Housing Committee. Here’s the LINK to SB900 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB900
If you haven’t watched the two videos posted on the CCHAL website explaining how SB900 will become law, do take five minutes to watch them. They will explain how homeowners can impact the voting on this bill. The videos are also under 2024 Legislation. They show at what decision points homeowners can STOP a bill.
https://calhomelaw.org/2024-legislation/how-a-bill-becomes-a-law/
https://calhomelaw.org/2024-legislation/
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