What Are HOA Governing Documents?

We’re always talking about the association’s governing documents, but what are they?

State Law

Almost every state has statutes governing condominiums and homeowner associations. In addition most associations are subject to the state corporations’ code.

Declaration, Master Deed, or Proprietary Lease and Their Covenants and Restrictions

Planned communities are created by declarations (also known as CC&Rs). Cooperatives are created with proprietary leases (also called occupancy agreement). These contain the restrictions that regulate residents’ behavior, they define owner’s rights and obligations, and establish the association’s responsibilities.

Articles of Incorporation

Most associations, and all cooperatives, incorporate and have articles of incorporation that define their purposes and powers. They may specify such things as the number of directors and their terms of office.

Bylaws

Bylaws address association operations such as procedures for meetings and elections and specifying the general duties of the board.

Resolutions - Rules and Regulations

Board members adopt rules and regulations, and sometimes members have to approve them. Rules and regulations are recorded as board resolutions. Resolutions must be consistent with the declaration or proprietary lease, the bylaws and state law.

Association governing documents are almost always trumped by state law. But, when association documents conflict among themselves, the CC&Rs carries the greatest weight, followed by the bylaws and then the rules and regulations.

December Landscape Tips

For a festive Christmas, plant red and white cyclamen, and/or poinsettias. The poinsettias are frost sensitive, so cover with burlap if the temperature dips below freezing at night. Along the same line, in those areas where frosts are just an occasional thing, keep plantings well-watered so whenever a freeze threatens, plants are more likely to survive. A "turgid" well-hydrated plant is better-equipped to recover than a dehydrated plant. 

Continue to rake leaves, clean drains, and water only if the dry Santa Ana winds blow and zap moisture from the soil or if more than 10 days pass without rain. Look at your soil to verify it is starting to become dry or you see stress in your turf before turning on irrigation. Do not prune tender cold sensitive plants, but now you can prune deciduous fruit trees.  After pruning them, spray with dormant oil to prevent fungal diseases and pest problems.  If you hadn’t pruned your trees in the fall, and before winter storms do too much damage, now is the best time to prune pines, and most shade trees can safely be trimmed as well.  Plus, it’s easier to see what you’re doing when the leaves have gone during dormancy. Remove weak or cracked limbs, and open up the canopies so wind and rain can pass through them, but never remove more than twenty percent of the canopy and avoid lion tailing (stripping leaves from the branch only to leave some at the tip.)   

If the trees are big, hire a licensed tree trimmer supervised by a certified arborist. Find one by visiting www.isa-arbor.com. If plants get hit by frost, resist the urge to prune away injured tissue. The damaged parts will protect inner growth from additional harm should there be another frost. (Once spring growth appears, you can cut off damaged areas above it.) If you purchased bulbs like tulips, hyacinths, crocus, and daffodils in the fall,  and gave them some cold treatment in the refrigerator, plant them now. They will erupt in spring and your patience will be rewarded. Similarly, if you have not planted your wildflower seeds, get it done now.  

Bonus Tip: Bare root plants will start to appear in home centers next month. Smart gardeners will go now to specialty stores and pre-order harder to find and unique varieties of bare root trees and shrubs, roses, and even vegetables for planting next month.