Association Records Overview

The right to INSPECT and to COPY association records is a longstanding right found originally in the Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporations Code (Corp. Code 7110-7910.)[1] The law comprises two rights: the right to INSPECT and the right to COPY records.  These rights apply to both homeowners and board directors, though Corp. Code 8334 gives directors “an absolute right at any reasonable time” to INSPECT and to COPY all association records, reports, and documents and the association’s physical assets.

The right to INSPECT and to COPY records was modeled on California’s Public Records Act (PRA)[2], whose founding principle is that “secrecy” is anathema to good government and that its opposite – transparency in its operations – is essential.[3]

In 2003, the right to INSPECT and to COPY records was taken up in AB104/Lowenthal and transferred into what is commonly known as the Davis-Stirling Act, specifically into Civil Code 5200.  AB104 included the homeowner’s right to sue in small claims court in order to enforce these rights.[4]  

The ink was barely dry on AB104 before homeowners used small claims court as the legal tool to access records, particularly financial records.  The most important case arising from AB104 involved senior homeowners, who filed multiple small claims suits that escalated into the California Appeals Courts.[5]

Despite the Appeals Court ruling, associations continued to block access to records, so Assembly Member Dave Jones, Chair of the Judiciary Committee, took up the RECORDS issue again in AB1098 in 2005.[6]  That bill was also signed into law.

AB1098 (now Civil Code §5200 et seq.) defines what comprises association RECORDS, the process for requesting them, the length of time the HOA must retain them, and legal tools for enforcing the right to records. Model cases for accessing association records are here: (LINK)

[1] Most California associations are formed under Corp Code 7110-7910.

[2] Govt. Code §6250 et seq.

[3] See “The People’s Business: A Guide to the Public Records Act,” The League of California Cities (2022)

[4] http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=200320040AB104

[5] Golden Rain Foundation v Franz et al (2008) 163 Cal.App.4th 1141

[6] http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=200520060AB1098

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