Community Association Fair Housing Update; Recent Fair Housing Claims By Matt D. Ober, Esq., CCAL The Fair Housing Act (FHA) prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race; color; religion; sex; national origin; familial status; or disability.  In Community Associations, the FHA allows a community to make an exception to a rule to accommodate a disabled resident. It isn’t always about service animals or comfort pets; it’s about providing all residents with an equal opportunity to use and enjoy their housing. Perhaps more than ever before, fair housing regulations are impacting community associations as to how boards govern, address common area modification requests, and enforce their rules. Communities are looking for ways to accommodate their residents who, for a variety of reasons, need to modify a common area or need an exception to a community rule to have equal use of their residence. The FHA requires that qualified resident with a disability be allowed a reasonable exception to a rule, or permission to make a reasonable modification to common areas at her expense i.e.; a reasonable accommodation. For some time now, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has been working on changes to the California Code of Regulations covering the Fair Employment and Housing Act. Most recently, on June 22, 2018, DFEH issued a Notice of Modifications which will likely impact how community associations address resident requests for reasonable accommodations. While the proposed modifications are being developed, it is our hope that the modifications clearly address such critical issues as 1) who pays for the modifications; 2) who restores the property after the disabled resident vacates the property; 3) what is reasonable in determining a reasonable accommodation— how much of a nuisance to the other residents is required to accommodate one resident.  The full text of CLAC’s response to the DFEH modifications can be read here .   Read the full article here .

Best Manuscript Award Winner

Matt and fellow College of Community Association Lawyers (CCAL) colleague, Amy Tinette, Esq., were awarded CCAL's Best Manuscript for their presentation, "Bucking the Trends: The Impact of Legislative Trends on Community Association Governance.

CAI-GLAC Educational Luncheon, August 22 Skirball Center, Los Angeles Join Matt D. Ober, Esq. and a panel of community association lawyers for a friendly debate on hot topics facing community associations: Membership Suspensions, Cannabis, Insurance Deductibles, Rental Restrictions, Comfort Pets and more! You'll go back to your board with tools for success. Register here .

TIP: How To Manage Open Forum & Board Deliberations One common reason for rambling and even raucous board meetings is that the association members and board have forgotten who speaks at which point of the meeting.  Scrupulously respect Open Forum and ask the audience to respect Board Deliberations.  Read More Here...

Is Your Board In Agreement About How To Handle Assessment Delinquencies? In this article , Department Chair of our collections department, ROcollect, attorney Matthew A. Gardner provides background information on the two types of collection processes available to HOA boards: judicial and non-judicial foreclosure. Read more here... If you have any questions about what is the best course of action for your community, contact Matthew at (877) 446-2529.

Save the Date!

Matthew Gardner, "Staying On the Up and Up: How to Handle a Smooth Election" CAI-GLAC hosts this SGV Evening Program and will feature senior associate, Matthew A. Gardner, Esq. speaking about Board Elections. For more info, click here.

Matt Ober will participate in CAI-OC's annual event, the Free Advice Round Table Luncheon where board members gather to discuss their concerns with Community Association Law practitioners. Sign up here.

R|O Gives Back: R|O is teaming up with CAI-GLAC's Outreach Committee for their non-perishable food drive. We will join the food packing team on Saturday, September 8th from 8-12 at the LA Regional Food Bank in DTLA. For more info, click here.

R|O Welcomes Catheryne Loiacono After working in the legal industry for a little over ten years, Catheryne Loiacono joined the R|O team as our new office administrator. Coming from a firm who also focused on HOA law, she is no stranger to the responsibilities that come along with office management. As a mother of three children, who spends most of her free time at the baseball field, we are confident Catheryne has the necessary skills to manage our busy practice! Join us in welcoming Catheryne to Team R|O!

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