CC&Rs not provided upon purchase

[eatcookiez]

I purchased a condo in California and during escrow my lender and I requested a copy of all the HOA docs.
I was only provided with the By Laws, last meeting minutes and Rules and Regulations. About 6 months later I find out that there is a separate document with the CC&Rs. I started airbnb hosting my condo about a month ago and have about a month more bookings lined up. They are saying I am violating the CC&Rs with this "Also, except for a mortgagee in possession of a condominium following a default in first mortgage, a foreclosure proceeding, or acceptance of a deed or other arrangement in lieu of foreclosure, no owner shall rent, lease or let his condominium for transient or hotel purposes."


They also posted a sign stating "Relatives and guests personally unaccompanied by an owner must be registered with the board..." Cant I just register all my airbnb guests or does this transient rule apply to me since the bookings are under 30 days?

Can I take the associate to court for withholding the CC&R document?

 

[HRZ]

Failure of seller to provide the the docuements ahead of time is a big problem and rental restrictions are one of the specific disclosures required...read up on CC 4525

I suggest you nvest is the best attorney with a bite that matches his or her bark ...to have paid comment and review on this mistake .

 

[justalayman]

Cc 4540
Any person who willfully violates this article is liable to the purchaser of a separate interest that is subject to this section for actual damages occasioned thereby and, in addition, shall pay a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500).  In an action to enforce this liability, the prevailing party shall be awarded reasonable attorney's fees.


I’m not sure you’ll get much out of prevailing in the matter. Determining damages for not being allowed to use the property as an airbnb would be extremely difficult to quantify. Add that impossible number to $500 and reasonable fees for your attorney and the matter is settled.

 

[eatcookiez]

Does the transient statement even apply to me? I am not in foreclosure or anything.

 

[justalayman]

Does the transient statement even apply to me? I am not in foreclosure or anything.

The section says:


except for a mortgagee in possession of a condominium following a default in first mortgage, a foreclosure proceeding, or acceptance of a deed or other arrangement in lieu of foreclosure, no owner shall rent, lease or let his condominium for transient or hotel purposes."


A mortgagee is the lender in a mortgage loan situation.

That means unless you are described by the exception you cannot rent the condo to others. People fitting the description are excepted and would be allowed to rent out their condo. Basically is says a bank can rent out a condo if they foreclosed on the mortgage and took possession of the condo.

 

[adjusterjack]

Does the transient statement even apply to me? I am not in foreclosure or anything.

Read only the last part of that sentence:

"no owner shall rent, lease or let his condominium for transient or hotel purposes."

The rest of the sentence contains exceptions to that and those exceptions don't apply to you.

Other than that, you will have to look at other places in the CC&Rs as to whether there are limitations on the use of your condo.

The CA transient tax on hotels and motels defines transient as occupancy of less than 30 days. Were a court to adopt that definition as applying to your CC&Rs (I'm not saying it would, just could) then your airBnB occupancy for any period less than 30 days would certainly be transient.

 

[HRZ]

MY laymans vie with: failure to supply the CC&Rs is the pivitol issue under the law. read it...go discuss it with counsel. WIth attention to does the seller have deep enough pockets and can they be served etc.

Here is one rub...if your paper damage award is say $1500 and the reasonable attorney fees are for 60 hours of work at say $500 per hour ...and the fact line up as you might like.....do you hold a good poker hand to induce a settlement ? Some small economic matters sometimes come with whopper legal bills and the bill is more important than the issue ( been there !)!

 

[adjusterjack]

I purchased a condo in California and during escrow my lender and I requested a copy of all the HOA docs.

Wait a minute. To whom and how did you make that request?

According to the statute, the OWNER of the property must provide the documents.

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=CIV&division=4.&title=&part=5.&chapter=4.&article=2.

 

[eatcookiez]

What is the name of your state? CA

I purchased a condo in California and during escrow I was failed to be provided with the CC&Rs. I was only provided with the By Laws, last meeting minutes and Rules and Regulations that don't restrict airbnb/transient stays. About 6 months later I requested this CC&R doc docs as I got a notice saying to review the CC&Rs/other HOA docs for our upcoming yearly meeting. I got the CC&Rs and it does say no transient use.

I emailed the HOA board asking if I could keep my 5 remaining bookings for the month due to my situation of just finding out the rules. I removed my listing as soon as I got their CC&Rs. Cancelling these bookings will result in monetary loss and ruin my site rep. I still plan to use my account for future listings of other properties. I emailed the HOA about a week ago and haven't heard a word back. I have a stay coming up. I don't know if I should cancel or just keep the bookings at this point. Its hard to know what they are thinking at this point. They haven't directly given me notice to stop, I just requested the CC&R doc and noticed I was in violation. Trying limit my damages in both ways and avoided getting fined by the HOA/Airbnb.

 

[Zigner]

You have been advised to seek the assistance of an attorney. In your case, you would be wise to do so. Best of luck to you.

 

[not2cleverRed]

Perhaps the problem you have is not a failure on the part of the HOA or the party that sold the condo, but you, yourself.

You seem to own multiple properties. Would I be correct in guessing that you purchased this condo as an investment property, not a personal residence? If that is the case, then it would behoove you to inquire about the legality of your business at the time of purchase. And, in addition to HOA CC&Rs, there may be local laws addressing this issue. My municipality, for example, enacted a ban on short term rentals in residential areas, defined as being anything under 30 days, and has taken several property owners to court.

Why should the HOA grant you an accommondation for your ignorance? What you should do is look up the consequence(s) for these violations, and prepare to deal with them.

 

[HRZ]

CC 4525 seems on point....review it with your attorney?

 

[Zigner]

CC 4525 seems on point....review it with your attorney?

That puts responsibility on the seller, not the HOA.

 

[eatcookiez]

That puts responsibility on the seller, not the HOA.

I am assuming the seller could still go after the HOA for not providing this on their behalf. I had zero contact with the actual sellers.

 

[eatcookiez]

Perhaps the problem you have is not a failure on the part of the HOA or the party that sold the condo, but you, yourself.

You seem to own multiple properties. Would I be correct in guessing that you purchased this condo as an investment property, not a personal residence? If that is the case, then it would behoove you to inquire about the legality of your business at the time of purchase. And, in addition to HOA CC&Rs, there may be local laws addressing this issue. My municipality, for example, enacted a ban on short term rentals in residential areas, defined as being anything under 30 days, and has taken several property owners to court.

Why should the HOA grant you an accommondation for your ignorance? What you should do is look up the consequence(s) for these violations, and prepare to deal with them.

It could all very well be my fault. I am a first time home buyer and had no help other than my realtor. I purchased this condo to live in due to an unforeseen event I am unable to live at the condo full time and thought airbnb would help with some of my expenses due to this situation. I want to keep in good standing with airbnb in case one day I do own an investment property. My area has yet to come to an agreement regarding short term stays.

It is up to the HOA to grant me an accommodation. The person providing the docs in the HOA is realtor and I feel should have known better to provide these rules during escrow. They haven't even asked me stop. I just asked for permission for this month and got no reply. I have been proactive in the situation and requested the document as soon as I learned that it was a thing.