Condo Damage Attorney – Enforcement Of CC&Rs and the Reasonableness Standard

Under California Civil Code § 1354, an HOA (Home Owners Association) is empowered  to enforce the CC&Rs (Covenants, Codes & Restrictions) when a HOA member is in violation of any provision of the association’s covenants, codes and restrictions. To enforce their CC&Rs, the HOA’s governing body must demonstrate the provision they’re seeking to impose is not unreasonable. Under these circumstances, it becomes a matter of what is the “legal standard” in determining whether a particular provision of the CC&Rs is “reasonable.” Rulings in California have held that arbitrary provisions are ultimately “unreasonable” and therefore unenforceable. [See Dolan-King v. Rancho Santa Fe Assn., (2000) 81 Cal. App. 4th 965, 976 – A restriction is unreasonable or arbitrary when it bears no rational relationship to the protection, purpose or preservation of the affected land.]

Whether a provision is arbitrary or unreasonable, however, is not determined based on its application to a specific homeowner. But rather, the judgement hinges upon the provision’s impact on the common interest development as a whole. [See Nahrstedt v. Lakeside Village Condominium Assn., (1994) 8 Cal. 4th 361, 386 – “Under the holding we adopt today, the reasonableness or unreasonableness of a condominium use restriction that the Legislature has made subject to section 1354 is to be determined not by reference to facts that are specific to the objecting homeowner, but by reference to the common interest development as a whole.”]