AP Wire | 09/24/2004 | Governor signs bill aiding buyers in private communities
JIM WASSERMAN

Associated Press


SACRAMENTO - Prospective buyers eyeing homes in California's 37,000 private communities won new help Friday to get clearer pictures of what they're getting into financially.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, responding to numerous complaints of real estate agents, signed legislation requiring homeowners associations to better explain the true costs of living there.

The California Association of Realtors sponsored the bill, saying too many buyers are complaining of unexpected hikes in their monthly or yearly assessments soon after moving in. The bill makes associations specifically spell out for potential buyers the amounts of monthly dues and precise amounts that dues must rise in years ahead to maintain the community.

...Backers said the bill will help buyers in the private neighborhoods that represent 60 percent of California's new housing determine if they can afford both a mortgage and monthly dues that may rise in years ahead. Most Californians pay between $100 and $200 a month in assessments that maintain streets, buildings and landscaping held in common by all the residents.

...Schwarzenegger also signed legislation expanding the rights of associations and residents to mediate their differences instead of going to court or hiring an arbitrator. The bill, by Assemblyman Tom Harman, R-Huntington Beach, allows residents to appeal decisions made by their association boards, and says the board cannot refuse to meet with a resident over a dispute.

But the governor still has not taken a position on the year's biggest homeowner association bill, which would ban private communities from foreclosing on members' homes over unpaid debts under $2,500.



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Good for the bill's sponsor, John Laird, and also three cheers for the Governator, because this is a good piece of legislation. And now we'll see what he does with the big enchilada--the foreclosure reform bill. He has only until September 30, so we don't have long to wait. CAI is reportedly lobbying him to veto it.