Real Estate & Property Law

Do HOA Owners Have To Clean Up Their Vehicle Spills?

Questions often arise about how much authority Boards have to require certain things from owners in a Condo or HOA. Here is one such question in an email from a reader:

"Hey Beth - Thanks so much for your amazing site! Recently, we've asked homeowners in our California condo complex to fix vehicle leaks (oil, coolant, etc) in their cars parked in their designated garage spaces. However, one Board member has suggested that this could be an infringement on the individual owner's personal property rights, as their car is not part of our condo property.

Is the request for car leak repair legal? If not, can we be sued for requesting that their car leaks be fixed?"

I am assuming since you said "designated garage spaces" that your development is either a condo association or a planned development where the garages are part of the common area and are assigned for use by owners. In either case, the board would have the right to require owners to clean up their vehicle spills. It might even have authority to give them the opportunity, and if they do not do it, to enter the garages, do the cleanup and charge the owner. The documents would have to be checked to describe the extent of the authority, but it makes sense that the Board would have the authority to order action or take action that would protect the common area since all the owners pay for the maintenance, repair and replacement of the common area components.

If the development is single family homes with attached garages, my answer would be different.

Full post as published by California Condo & HOA Law on February 26, 2011 (boomark / email).