In the News

A couple of homeowners in a Phoenix planned community feel they’ve been painted into a corner by their homeowner’s association. The couple was informed after repainting their home the same color it had been for 10 years, that painting—even if it’s not a new color scheme—requires a special application to the association to be made two weeks before the project.

Community Associations Institute (CAI) members from around the country met in Washington, D.C., recently to address critical community association issues with officials at the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and key Congressional leaders.

Community Associations Institute (CAI) is expressing support for proposed federal rules that accomplish two important CAI goals: (1) helping more homebuyers obtain safe mortgage financing; and (2) stimulating a housing market that has struggled since home prices began falling in late 2006. Both will provide more stability to community associations across the country.

A federal lawsuit has been filed involving discrimination allegations by homeowners in the upscale Blackhawk community of Contra Costa County, Calif. The owners, who are the only couple in the community with young children, say that the HOA has banned their children from playing outside their home, accessing common areas, or trick-or-treating in the neighborhood on Halloween.

The development of so-called live-work condominium buildings is picking up speed throughout the country in response to the proliferation of professionals who work from home. The condo hybrid creates a space that’s suited to work and residential needs. But the trend is not without its challenges: Some developers have experienced delays because building codes in most municipalities don't yet have provisions for these residential-commercial hybrids; the type of work the unit owner can engage in could also be subject to municipal oversight.

In August 2013, a Florida condominium association and its former management company agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a fair housing claim alleging that they enforced occupancy limits that discriminated against families with children.

A Pine Canyon HOA must allow “For Sale” signs in the community, the Arizona Court of Appeals recently ruled, despite deed restrictions that ban them. The ruling trumps restrictions, and squelched the association’s argument that its pre-existing ban on such signs can remain despite a 2009 law to the contrary.

The Community Associations Institute (CAI) continues to fight for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster relief equality. Since the beginning of the year, CAI, the organization that provides information and education to community associations and the professionals who support them, has stepped up its efforts to secure access to federal disaster relief funds for community associations across the U.S.

Community Associations Institute (CAI) recently commended the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) for issuing new guidelines that will provide more opportunities for homebuyers and sellers and greater stability for condominium communities. CAI has pressed FHA to revise rules that determine if a condominium community meets certain guidelines that enable buyers to obtain FHA-insured mortgage loans. FHA is the only source of low down payment mortgages that many borrowers use to become first-time homeowners. For many Americans, condos are often the first step in homeownership.

A Reston, Va., couple say they won’t remove an American flag flying from their mailbox, despite a request by their community association to take it down. One of the homeowners said that, as a Navy veteran, he believes strongly in the country’s flag and is disregarding the “poorly written” letter informing the couple that the flag violated community rules. The letter also asked the couple to trim overgrowth on their property. The Fairfax, Va.-based management company that sent the letter asserted that it was only doing what the board of directors asked it to do.