10.31.24

ISSUE # 102

CIC Info Bytes 10/31/24

CIC Info Bytes are frequent, succinct updates providing educational and engagement opportunities that help your community thrive!  Please forward and share this newsletter with your peers, neighbors and colleagues so they can connect and join.  Our goal is to curate content that provides a robust basis for contextual understanding to support practical takeaways for you and your association.  Please consider following us on Twitter and Reddit. 

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Two Black Cats

• Maryland: A sneaky maneuver keeps a pair of black felines together despite covenants to the contrary.  Condominiums often have limits on how many household pets each unit can keep.  HOAs – plat communities with detached single-family homes – often have relaxed pet limits or none at all given the nature of more space for every resident and the lack of shared walls, floors and ceilings.

While owner Alaina Walter's documentation only lists one cat and one dog, she actually has three pets, but has managed to keep this secret—thanks to two of her cats looking nearly identical.

Walter owns a Bernese Mountain dog named Winnie, weighing in at 90 pounds, and two black cats, Loki and Sylvie. But the cats look so much alike that even friends and family can't tell them apart—something that has let Walter get away with telling her HOA she only has one cat.

"Our HOA has a two-pet limit for each house, which was stated in the HOA documentation when we moved in," Walter told Newsweek. "We filled out paperwork stating the breed and weight of each pet, so we listed just one cat and the dog. We moved in July, but so far they haven't suspected anything!"...

HOA Limits Number of Pets Woman Can Own—She Devises Hilarious Solution — Alice Gibbs | Newsweek | October 18, 2024

Sinking Feeling

• Enjoy these bluesy tracks while you read this issue and reflect on natural disasters and Florida’s sinking condominium market…

🔊 Sunken Condos — Donald Fagen (of Steely Dan fame) | October 2012

FEMA Isn’t Helping

• Treasure Island, Florida: Grappling with the aftermath of two hurricanes is tough and FEMA’s seemingly bizarre rules add insult to injury.   FEMA considers condominiums to be “commercial enterprises.”  Read Remember Juneau from Issue #77 to learn more about how federal emergency relief excludes condominiums.

There are specific guidelines municipalities must follow to be reimbursed by FEMA for debris removal, as well as regulations homeowners must follow to rebuild following a catastrophic loss.

We've heard a lot about the FEMA 50% rule, which states that a damaged home can't be repaired if the damage exceeds 50% of the home's value. Now, residents in hard-hit areas along Pinellas County beaches are hearing that storm debris littering streets, front yards, and vacant lots won't be picked up if it came from a condominium.

According to "FEMA Disaster Assistance Policy 9523.13: Removal of debris that has been placed on the right-of-way after a disaster incident occurs from commercial properties, such as industrial parks, golf courses, cemeteries, apartments, condominiums, and trailer parks due to a disaster is generally ineligible because commercial enterprises are expected to retain insurance that covers debris removal."...

'It doesn't make sense': Condo debris not covered by FEMA for pickup — Michael Paluska | ABC Tampa Bay | October 17, 2024

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A list of FEMA requirements related to assistance for private roads and bridges.

FEMA offers assistance for damaged private-owned roads and bridges — Leslie Johnson | WDBJ7 | October 25, 2024

Pressing Questions

• Do you know what to ask a potential manager?  All of this and so much more is available on our Management Toolkit page.

19 Questions Board Members Should Ask a Potential Community Association Manager — Colorado DORA HOA Center | October 23, 2024

The Cost of Net Zero

Several factors are contributing to decelerating heat pump adoption.

Sales of solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles have soared over the last few years — helping to slow global warming and take dangerous pollutants out of the atmosphere.

But one technology critical to fighting climate change is lagging, thanks to a combination of high interest rates, rising costs, misinformation and the cycle of home construction. Adoption of heat pumps, one of the primary ways to cut emissions from buildings, has slowed in the United States and stalled in Europe, endangering the switch to clean energy.

Heat pump investment in the United States has dropped by 4 percent in the past two years, even as sales of EVs have almost doubled, according to data from MIT and the Rhodium Group. In 13 European countries, heat pump sales dropped nearly in half in the first half of 2024, putting the European Union off-track for its climate goals…

Heat pumps were supposed to help save the planet. But they’ve run into a bump. — Shannon Osaka | The Washington Post | October 21, 2024

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Cold climate heat pumps are getting better all the time.

Heat pumps are a critical clean energy technology that could help reduce household energy bills and cut carbon emissions. But they haven’t always lived up to the hype in colder climates. Established in 2021, the Residential CCHP Challenge aimed to tackle those performance issues head-on – and it’s paid off.

In partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Bosch, Carrier, Daikin, Johnson Controls, Lennox, Midea, Rheem, and Trane Technologies first completed prototype testing, then tested their heat pumps in real homes across the US and Canada. Lennox’s and Carrier’s cold-climate heat pumps are already in production.

These cold climate heat pumps (CCHPs) reliably delivered heat even during the coldest winter months, with some units operating at temperatures as low as –15F (–26C) while still meeting energy efficiency requirements. DOE says these new CCHPs could help households in colder areas transition to efficient electric heating while saving on energy costs…

Seriously good cold-climate heat pumps are headed to the US market — Michelle Lewis | Electrek | October 24, 2024

Environment

• A megathrust earthquake coming to the Pacific Northwest is a matter of WHEN, not IF…

…"To be fully, completely, and totally prepared is an impossibility," Robert Ezelle, the director of the emergency-management division of Washington state's Military Department, told Business Insider, "just because of the magnitude of the event."...

A mega-earthquake could strike the Pacific Northwest any day — and we're not prepared (free 🔗)

— Morgan McFall-Johnsen | Business Insider | October 26, 2024

Are 'micro-apartments' converted from offices the answer to the housing crisis? — Andrea Riquier | USA Today | October 22, 2024

News About Micro-Apartments, Co-Living, Office-to-Residential Conversions & More

• Florida: There was talk of insurance premiums settling down.  New claims from recent hurricanes change the equation. 

…A vulnerability in Florida's property insurance market — finger-pointing over whether water damage was caused by flood inundation or breaches in the structure that let rain through — is likely being exposed again by Milton's sea surge, devastating winds and torrential downpours along a vast swath of the state, from Siesta Key on the west to Daytona Beach on the east.

One of the most respected damage assessment models, by Karen Clark & Company, pegs Hurricane Milton's insured losses at $36 billion. But with a minority of property owners insured for flood, there's likely to be plenty of uninsured losses too, and competing arguments about what damage is from the wind and what is caused by flood.

Those caught in the gulch, consumer advocates warn, may find they have few options to contest their insurer's assessment of Milton's damage to their home. Many times, plaintiff lawyers say, an insurance company's evaluation of storm damage pins the blame on the ruin left in a hurricane's wake on storm surge and flooding — plenty of which Hurricane Milton unleashed across the state. And only about one in four Floridians have coverage for that…

…Previous hurricanes have shed light on the growing tension between flood and rain damage

The Vari family's Panhandle beach house was just one of an estimated 60,000 dwellings devastated or damaged after Hurricane Michael made landfall 12 miles away with a 160-mph punch. An engineer estimated Hurricane Michael inflicted $297,000 in damage to their 3,170-square-foot, four-bedroom house. But their insurance offered just $31,854, roughly 10% of the damage estimate, to pay for the repairs.

Their primary insurer said most of the damage was the result of flooding, not wind, court papers show.

Their attorney, Joe Ligman, who has offices in Miami, Fort Myers and West Palm Beach specializing in insurance claims, says proving the case against an insurer’s estimation that flooding was the cause of the hurricane damage, is an expensive proposition that can take years. The source of the damage is among the most common causes of disputes. And whether it was the result of flooding or wind, is second only to insurers and their clients arguing over whether it was the result of wear and tear that existed before the weather event, Ligman said…

Hurricane Milton likely to be a first test of insurance reforms and spawn a recurring argument — Anne Geggis | Palm Beach Post | October 21, 2024

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The one-two punch of hurricanes Helene and Milton threatened to stop the recovery of Florida’s property insurance market, but six insurers are essential saying they’ll be able to weather the storm.

…Hurricane Milton alone caused an estimated $55 billion in property damage across Florida. Despite these losses, the six insurers that came out with statements are reaffirming their commitment to Floridians.

In a statement to News4JAX, Citizens Property Insurance, Florida’s state-backed insurer, said:

“Citizens right now is in a very strong financial position. We’ve seen about 80,000 claims related to Milton. We expect to pay all claims from both Milton and Helene without needing to levy assessments on non-Citizens policyholders.”...

…Despite reassurances from insurers, experts warn of potential premium increases.

Brian Wilcox, a commercial insurance agent at Five County Insurance, believes that hurricanes Helene and Milton could result in higher insurance rates for property owners across Florida.

“I project that there’s going to be a spike in insurance across the board. Even if you didn’t file a claim, we’re all in this pool together,” he said.

6 major property insurance companies outline future plans in Florida after back-to-back hurricanes — Tarik Minor | WJXT | October 18, 2024

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Storms like Hurricane Helene need only minutes to devastate people’s finances. Even those with decent insurance and thousands in government support need many years to recover. 

Jason Johnson, 49, watched from his neighbor’s third-floor window two years ago as 10 feet of water from the Gulf of Mexico surged through his Fort Myers Beach, Fla., house during Hurricane Ian.  His Jeep Grand Cherokee floated down the street—along with his refrigerator. His home, filled with 3 inches of mud and a catfish, was unlivable. His two cars and boat were unsalvageable.

...They were well insured. Flood insurance paid out $350,000. They got about $32,000 from the car and boat insurances combined.  He and his wife, Michele Johnson, 55, knew it wasn’t enough.  “Ian’s been a huge financial burden that set us back years,” he said....

...The Johnsons took $200,000 from their savings for home repairs after the hurricane two years ago.  They are also paying off a $60,000 loan for the one-bedroom RV they lived in for almost two years during the rebuilding.

They were still paying off that storm damage when Helene delivered another gut punch in September. The flooding might add another $70,000 to their tab. Their dream of being debt free by retirement now seems far-fetched. As does the Caribbean vacation Michele longs to take…

The True Cost of Losing Your Home in a Hurricane (After Insurance) — Veronica Dagher and Katherine Hamilton | WSJ | October 06, 2024

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Foul floodwaters pose additional risk from hurricanes. 

…Even though the risk of drowning or getting injured in rising, fast-moving water is past, standing water remains treacherous to navigate and likely harbors dangerous diseases. Walking in it should be avoided at all costs, government officials and health experts warn.

“I think water can be deceiving,” says Seema Wadhwa, executive director for environmental stewardship for the healthcare company Kaiser Permanente. Even if the water looks clear, what’s in there is often a mix of “raw human sewage, septic tanks, wastewater,” she says, which means there’s also often “the presence of bacteria, viruses, parasites.” Those can cause a variety of issues from gastrointestinal distress to skin diseases.

Past hurricanes reveal just how harmful floodwaters can be. There was an 11% increase in North Carolina emergency department visits tied to acute gastrointestinal illness in the three weeks following Hurricane Matthew in October 2016 and Florence in September 2018, a 2022 study found. When Hurricane Harvey hit the Houston area in 2017, emergency room visits for intestinal infectious diseases spiked by 39%, according to a 2021 analysis...

Hurricane Milton’s Floodwaters Hide a Dirty Secret: Sewage — Zahra Hirji | Bloomberg | October 12, 2024

• Florida’s housing market is in a state of flux.

If you enjoy having migraine headaches, you might want to spend some time thinking about the future of Florida’s housing market in an era of increasingly destructive climate disasters.

Are home prices in some areas being driven down by people fleeing the parts of the Sunshine State most prone to flooding and high insurance costs? Or are developers snatching up storm-ravaged land to build new — and more expensive — homes in those same places? Or are people moving just in from the shore, displacing those on higher ground and making housing there less affordable?

The answer to all these questions is yes. It just might vary from house to house, block to block and town to town. Florida is Schrödinger’s Housing Market, both living and dying at the same time. As with other places most vulnerable to the ravages of a warming planet, the challenge is managing this complex situation in a way that protects both human lives and economic strength, keeps housing affordable and treats everyone fairly. We’re not there…

Florida Is Now Schrödinger’s Housing Market — Mark Gongloff | Bloomberg Opinion | October 17, 2024

Built Environment

• Improving community association state law to include a reasonable level of precision that balances the reasonable expectations of homeowners with the powers of their condominium, co-op and HOA is a prudent step before everyone flocks to townhouses.

Opinion | The new American Dream should be a townhouse — Amanda Shendruk and Heather Long| Washington Post | October 21, 2024

Richfield Township, Michigan: Progress proceeds after a two plus decade delay.

For more than 20 years, the Forest Creek West condominium community has been incomplete.

The construction of condos in the last four cul-de-sacs of the development, located off Richfield Road and State Road, stalled back in 2001 and the empty lots have sat growing weeds and tall grass.

Through a partnership between the Forest Creek West condo association, the Brokaw Group realtors and Johnson Development, the long stagnant lots are about to see new life as a 38-unit condo development moves ahead…

Condo development sees new construction after 23 years — Gary Gould | Grand Blanc View | October 24, 2024

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London: Creative architecture creates housing.

If you sit outside the Southampton Arms pub on London’s Highgate Road and look across the street, you might think a historic bridge just got a makeover. There, peeking out from a grassy slope, a row of tall brick arches gives the impression of a Victorian viaduct. But get closer, and the building reveals itself as something more contemporary.

This is The Arches, a series of six houses designed by UK-based practice DHaus Company and completed in 2023. It is the result of a nearly five-year long process to meet the strict historic preservation standards of its London neighborhood. The result is a modern building that nods to the city’s railroad heyday, the neoclassical forms of nearby 18th- and 19th-century rowhouses, and the catacombs of local churches…

New Rowhouses in London That Offer a Bridge to the 19th Century — Richard Conway | Bloomberg CityLab | September 28, 2024

Look at That Building — Bloomberg CityLab

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Dubai: Thin is in.

A super-narrow skyscraper, measuring no more than a single apartment across, is being planned for Dubai.

The Muraba Veil will reach 1,247 feet into the sky but will be just about 74 feet across, according to details revealed by the architects and developer behind the project.

The 73-story tower will feature 131 apartments with between two and five bedrooms each, according to a statement sent to CNN by the project’s United Arab Emirates-based developer, Muraba. The high-end apartment block will feature “a range of curated leisure amenities,” including a spa, restaurant, gallery, padel court and private movie theater, it said…

Super-thin skyscraper, just one apartment wide, planned for Dubai — Lianne Kolirin | CNN | October 22, 2024

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Long Island City, New York: A buying opportunity in the ~$1,500 to $1,900/sqft range for what appears to be a uniquely faceted and intriguingly skinned luxury condominium with amenities galore.  Radiant.

'Radiant' unveils renderings as sales launch for new luxury condominium in LIC — Ethan Marshall | LIC Post | October 17, 2024

• Accrual accounting makes a difference and several states require this method of accounting, instead of cash basis accounting, for community associations.

In the early 1980s, New Zealand was on the brink of economic collapse. Two oil price shocks had saddled the country with high inflation, and the UK’s decision to join the European Economic Community a decade earlier had cut off access to a key export market. Successive governments had compounded the pain with a series of policy errors — throwing around subsidies, awarding inflationary pay deals and trying to control prices, while keeping interest rates too low and taxes too high. The result was soaring unemployment and mounting debts. No wonder some dubbed New Zealand the Albania of the South Pacific.

Yet over the remainder of that decade, New Zealand was transformed into one of the most prosperous countries in the world. A new Labour government took office in 1984 and embarked on a form of shock therapy that came to be known as “Rogernomics,” after Finance Minister Roger Douglas. The government removed exchange controls, slashed subsidies, privatized services and handed responsibility for setting interest rates to a newly independent central bank. New Zealand also introduced a different accounting approach throughout the public administration.

It is impossible to separate out the precise impact of each of these policies. But Ian Ball, a former senior Treasury official, professor of public finance management at Victoria University in Wellington, and one of the authors of Public Net Worth (Palgrave Macmillan, February 2024), says accounting reform was among the most consequential. Accounting is notoriously dry stuff. But switching to an accruals-based approach used in the private sector, and away from the cash-based systems traditionally used by governments, forced departments to think long-term and maximize the efficient use of assets. This is especially relevant in the UK at the moment with the government on the cusp of major budget reform…

New Zealand May Have a Solution for the World’s $100 Trillion Public Debt — Simon Nixon | Bloomberg | October 25, 2024

Cash Vs. Accrual Accounting: What’s The Difference? — Toni-Matthews-El and Kelly Main | Forbes Advisor | June 02, 2024

GAAP Accrual Accounting: a Comprehensive Guide — Indinero | June 29, 2023

Inflation and Monetary Policy

• Here’s the latest on interest rates and monetary policy meeting dates.

Cashing In

• US Treasury yields reversed course since mid-September.  Is your community association locking in long-dated treasuries?  Read What to Know on our Dollar$ & $ense page.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) are still on edge, but there are signs of life, especially for newer properties in prime locations.

...Of all the hot spots across global finance that were upended by the pandemic, few remain as fragile as the commercial mortgage-backed securities market. And within this market, the pain is most acute in a new breed of bonds, known as SASBs, that buildings like 1407 Broadway represent.

A Bloomberg analysis of almost every SASB tied to a US office property, more than 150 in all, revealed that creditors across numerous deals are on track to get only a portion of their original investment back. In multiple cases, the losses will likely reach all the way up to buyers of the AAA portions of the debt....

...While the losses pile up on the hardest-hit deals, demand for SASBs backed by newer buildings located in prime spots in the biggest cities is picking up. Sales of new SASBs have totaled $56 billion this year, nearly matching the kinds of numbers seen before the market seized up a couple years ago. “The commercial mortgage bond market is a world of have and have-nots right now,” said Lea Overby, a CMBS strategist at Barclays....

The Commercial Real Estate Crash Is Battering Even the Safest Bonds (free 🔗)

— Carmen Arroyo, Natalie Wong, Aaron Gordon, and Christopher Cannon | Bloomberg | October 28, 2024 

Restatements (of the law)

• Restatements of the law provide context for common law in the United States.  We’ve included links about the Fourth Restatement on our What are CICs?! page.  Volume 6, Servitudes, is drafted, but not yet approved.  This particular volume includes the juicy bits that support or refute powers of community associations and freedoms of homeowners.  Also see Issue# 79 and our Enforcement page.

Restatement to the Rescue — Lna Barnett | Harvard Law School | May 03, 2024

Relying on Restatements — Shyamkrishna Balganesh | Columbia Law Review | December 2022

The Debate Over the Role of Restatements — Richard L. Revesz | The ALI Adviser | August 09, 2019

Elect To Do Right

• Phoenix, Arizona: Score for homeowner rights!  Nearly two dozen states have laws protecting the right to display flags and/or signs.

Tina Stephens put up a political sign in front of her Phoenix home and was fined $50 by her homeowners association.  But that fine was contrary to Arizona law…

…Arizona law allows HOA residents to display campaign signs. More than half of metro Phoenix residents live in communities with HOAs.

Arizonans in HOAs can display political signs from 71 days before a primary election until 15 days after a general election for candidates in that election, according to the law…

Renter fights Phoenix HOA over fines for election signs and wins — Catherine Reagor | The Arizona Republic | October 19 , 2024

Sign It!

• Indianapolis, Indiana: Indiana lawmakers took action nearly 15 years ago to permit political yard signs within reason, but some  HOAs still struggle…

…Debbie Ottinger is chairwoman of the Boone County Republican Party. She says some people have complained to her recently that local homeowners associations are forcing folks to take down political signs from their yard.

"So then, they called and said, ‘what do we do?’” Ottinger said. “And at first, it was like, maybe it's something temporary, and I thought maybe this could just be an education issue.”...

…A state statute passed in 2010 says homeowners associations may not prohibit members from displaying a sign on their property. The Indiana Election Division offers a brochure that explains issues like this and points to the state statute that says political signs may be posted beginning 30 days before the election and ending five days after.

But the law says HOAs are able to restrict the size of a sign and the number of signs in your yard.

“I don't think you can put up a 10-by-10 foot sign with flashing lights,” Ottinger said. “But you should be able to put a normal size political sign in your yard if you choose to do so.”...

Can HOAs legally ban political signs from people's yards? — Dustin Grove | WTHR | October 16,, 2024

Invalid Flag Amendment

• Avon Lake, Ohio: This Board appears to have taken amendments into their own hands in contravention of state law and their declaration.  Pending 2025 legislation in Ohio will ensure political yard signs are permitted, but does not currently include a proviso for flags of all types.  🎗️ Don’t forget the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act!

The Homeowners Association for Belden Pointe in Avon Lake has changed their HOA code, now banning flags supporting various causes. Many neighbors feel this is silencing their show of support for social issues.

The [amendment] was done without a community vote as required by the “Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, Restrictions and Reservation of Easements for Belden Pointe Homeowners' Association, Inc”. The Declaration says a 75% approval vote is needed for something to be changed. According to resident Jacki Walsh-Scanlon, a letter was sent to homes announcing the change in policy, angering a large percentage of the community…

...“They said (the changes) were to avoid division within the community but honestly, it’s caused more division within the community than how it was before” Walsh-Scanlon said.

According to the Belden Pointe Homeowners Association, the decision was made due to 15 complaints being made about flags representing a wide-range of issues. The Board says that number of complaints, compared to homes, led to the decision for a change.

“The community is comprised of 57 lots on a single street. Within the past several months, the Board received 15 different complaints about certain types of flags, signs, and messaging being displayed on the street”...

“The Board only acted after receiving complaints and acted in a manner perfectly consistent with prior amendments required to resolve ambiguity and/or clarify the intent of the Declaration, which have been supported by the community. The Board’s actions were intentionally viewpoint neutral as everyone must be treated equally”.

Avon Lake HOA banning LGBTQ+, autism awareness flags, fining those who don’t comply — Jeff Slawson | Cleveland 19 | October 25, 2024

Local HOA bans flags (notably LGBT) without membership vote. — u/BreakfastBeerz | Reddit r/f*ckHOA | October 26, 2024

Is Surveillance Footage a Record?

• Florida: Surveillance footage could be a record, but probably isn’t in most cases.

Security Camera Videos as Official Records of a Condominium or Homeowners’ Association — Ramon C. Palacio | ALG Attorneys | September 28, 2023

Local Ordinances Reign Supreme

• Rural Ohio: Another reminder that your provisions of your covenants that purport to allow or prohibit certain actions may run afoul of laws and ordinances higher in the governance hierarchy. 

HOA found out the hard way they need to review local ordinances before writing CC&Rs — u/naranghim | Reddit r/f*ckHOA | October 24, 2024

Parking Rights … and Lefts

•  New York, New York: This co-op wants its shareholders to sign an updated agreement that would allow revocation of a parking spot.  #1: pause.  #2: details matter!

…“It’s not uncommon for a co-op to say that it’s a license, not a lease, and we can terminate it at will,” said Catharine Grad, a tenant lawyer in Manhattan. (Rent-stabilized tenants have protections that co-op shareholders do not have when it comes to parking spaces, Ms. Grad said.)

If the existing agreement is actually a license, your building’s management might have the right to replace it, said Adam Leitman Bailey, a real estate lawyer in Manhattan. But, this right would apply only if the co-op board has approved this action in a resolution, and only if the bylaws allow the board to approve it without a vote of the shareholders. (You didn’t mention the use of accessible parking spaces, but there are laws requiring managers of multifamily housing to make these spaces available to people with physical disabilities.)

Read the new agreement to see if the management company has acted outside the bounds of its authority, or if the co-op board has improperly ceded any of its authority to the management company…

My Co-op Says It Can Take Away My Parking Spot. I Say No. — Jill Terreri Ramos | The New York Times | October 26, 2024

Records Failure

• Aspen, Colorado: This is the latest unfulfilled records request to result in a lawsuit.  The suit includes at least one additional claim related to 

Burlingame Ranch Phase 1 homeowner Anna Garofalo filed a lawsuit against the Burlingame Ranch 1 Condominium Association, Inc. on Oct. 8.

In the lawsuit, Garofalo alleges that the Burlingame Ranch Phase 1 (BG1) Homeowners Association executive board is in violation of the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act (CCIOA) for not producing records within 10 days of her requests.

During a Sept. 18 association meeting, Garofolo expressed concerns regarding certain association conduct. She submitted a written request for the production of association records and gave the association 10 days from the date of her request to comply.

During this same meeting, the board voted to only require receipts from Rutledge and Company, which manages the community, if the cost is over $500…

Resident files claim against Burlingame Ranch Phase 1 Homeowners Association — Ryan Mertz | The Aspen Times | October 28, 2024

Just Follow the Law

• Kingman, Arizona: A resident exposes the goings on at Valle Vista (VVPOA).

Guest Opinion: Valle Vista Property Owners Association - the law is the law (alt 🔗) — Pamela McKinney | The Miner | October 28, 2024

• OHIO: Political yard signs take the focus in Ohio with proposed HB668.

…State Rep. Brian Lorenz, R-District 60, introduced House Bill 668. It aims to prohibit homeowners associations from restricting political yard signs no matter where a person leans on the political spectrum.

"Individuals want to be able to express their support of candidates and issues on both sides of the aisle," Lorenz said. "So, I've had a number of people in my district, you know, raise those concerns with me. And so I thought now would be a good time to bring it forward."

Lorenz said all yard signs will fall under his bill, including graduation and birthday signs. He says some homeowners associations have tried to get their residents to take down signs if they believe it interferes with the way a neighborhood looks. It could depend on the HOA from gentle reminders to fines for those who don’t oblige.

"We're not asking for a huge display, flags and things like that," Lorenz said. "So the bill really concentrates on a normal, four by two by four sign."...

Bill would stop HOAs from banning yard signs — Samana Sheikh | Spectrum News | October 27, 2024

• GEORGIA: Atlanta: Georgia presses forward with potential community association reform.

“When asked, they [industry representatives] admitted Georgia has no recourse outside of a lawsuit when a board decides not to follow the law or even its own rules and that’s where I saw the biggest disconnect between the industry around HOAs and those that live in them…”

John Kruger, VP of Government Affairs as Associa was one of the speakers starting around minute 26 of the first video linked below with nearly 20 minutes (!) of prepared testimony.

HOAs in Georgia: the industry that profits off them gives lawmakers solutions to community complaints

— Rebecca Lindstrom | WXIA 11 Alive | October 22, 2024

🎥 VIDEO: Georgia Senate Subcommittee on HOAs | October 22, 2024

🎥 VIDEO: Georgia Senate Subcommittee on HOAs | September 24, 2024

• Have some legislation for us to share?  Please let us know!