SB900/Umberg to Force HOA Owners to Fix All Utility Lines
Yes, you read it right.
Sacramento legislation introduced last week by Senator Umberg will make owners in California’s 55,000 associations (HOAs) responsible for “the repair and replacement” of utility lines bringing gas, heat, water or electrical services into the subdivision. SB900 says the HOA’s duty starts if the service line interruption begins in a common area and whether or not the line extends into an owner’s home.
Confusing? Alarming? For sure.
Bottom line: owners will have to pay.
Low-income owners in the City of Orange (Orange County) learned this the hard way in October when they got slapped with a $5000 emergency assessment to fix gas lines and were told they had 30 days to pay it. Most owners couldn’t.
The trouble started last year when the gas company –- SoCalGas — shut off service, because of broken gas lines within the La Veta Monterey condominium subdivision, a complex of modest homes https://www.compass.com/building/la-veta-monterey-orange-ca/838011220854534229/
Homeowners said they reported smelling gas to the management company and the HOA board, but nobody did anything about it.
During the months-long shutoff the 200 owners were unable to shower, cook for their kids, or do laundry. Owners went to a gym to bathe and took dirty clothes to the nearest laundromat. For meals, many families were forced to live on takeout food or jerry-rig electrical applications on the kitchen counter.
Here’s one of several news stories on the situation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os4KPWfWnYM
Meanwhile, a lot of finger-pointing went on among the HOA board, SoCalGas, the City of Orange, and the office of state Senator Tom Umberg, in whose district La Veta Monterey condos is located. For months they argued over whose responsibility it was to fix the gas lines.
Without admitting responsibility, the management company hired engineers to fix the line and SoCalGas restored service, but then the HOA board passed an emergency assessment forcing the 200 homeowners to hand over $5000 apiece to pay for repairs. No one admits to having the legal duty to maintain the gas line in the first place.
Now we come to SB900, which would permanently lay the costs on homeowners of repairing and replacing – not only gas lines but ALL utility lines delivering “heat, water, electricity,” when the break in service begins in a common area. Repairs are to be made within 30 days. Senator Umberg [D-Santa Ana/Orange County] wrote the legislation.
The bill doesn’t say whose duty it is to maintain the utility lines to prevent breaks from occurring in the first place.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB900
Umberg’s bill hasn’t been set for a vote yet, but meanwhile CCHAL urges homeowners to STUDY the bill and also to learn “How a Bill Becomes a Law” so they can TAKE ACTION! On it.
Posted on the CCHAL website is a 2-minute video and a comic book showing just that – and at what 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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