HOA HELL

Most California HOA homeowners who lose valid disputes lose them not because the law was against them, but because of mistakes they made on their own. Attorney Michael Kushner, considered by many in the industry to be the #1 homeowner-side HOA attorney in California, has spent years watching homeowners damage their own cases before they ever contact an attorney. In this episode, he breaks down the five most destructive mistakes hom...

In this HOA Q&A, California’s most respected homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains when California homeowners can sue HOA board members individually and when the HOA itself is the proper defendant. 

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A:

✅ The legal protections that normally shield HOA board members from personal liability.

✅ The specific types of conduct that can expose directors to individual liability.

✅ When...

In this episode, California’s leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, takes on one of the hottest new HOA fights in California: HOA boards converting tennis courts into pickleball courts. This episode looks at when an HOA board can make that change without a membership vote (and when it can’t), and why noise, parking, lights, guests, and court placement can turn a pickleball conversion into a serious HOA dispute. 

What...

In this HOA Q&A, California’s leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains why emotional distress claims against California HOAs are extremely difficult to prosecute and what homeowners need to understand before pursuing such claims and damages. 

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A:

✅ The legal standard for emotional distress claims and why it’s difficult to meet it.

✅ The level of medical proof and expert t...

In this HOA Q&A, California’s leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains whether California HOA boards can convert tennis courts into pickleball courts without obtaining approval from the membership. 

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A:

✅ Whether HOA boards have authority to change how common areas are used.

✅ The role an HOA’s governing documents play in those decisions.

✅ The role the Business Judgment R...

In this HOA Q&A, California’s leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, addresses what happens when your home insurance is not renewed due to wildfire risk and why more homeowners are being pushed into California’s FAIR Plan. 

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A:

✅ What the California FAIR Plan is and when homeowners are forced to rely on it.

✅ How FAIR Plan coverage differs from a traditional homeowners policy.

✅ ...

In this episode of HOA HELL, California’s foremost expert and homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, breaks down one of the most important parts of HOA life in California: HOA rules and regulations. From parking restrictions and architectural guidelines, to pet rules, election rules, and emergency rulemaking, this episode explains where HOA rulemaking authority comes from, what limits apply to that authority, and when HOA bo...

In this HOA Q&A, California’s leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, addresses the question of whether an HOA can block a condominium owner from installing solar panels on the common area roof based on concerns like potential water intrusion. 

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A:

✅ Whether condo owners have the right to install solar panels on a portion of the common area roof.

✅ What types of conditions HOAs a...

California homeowners dealing with abusive HOA board members, selective enforcement, architectural disputes, financial mismanagement, or ignored maintenance and repairs of the common areas often ask what it takes to sue their HOAs. In this episode, California’s leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, walks through the steps involved in suing a California HOA, including the issues you need to understand before you file...

In this HOA Q&A, California’s leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains the process that an HOA board must go through to borrow money from reserve funds. 

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A:

✅ What Civil Code § 5515 requires for an HOA to borrow from its reserves.

✅ What notice and documentation requirements apply before and after the loan is approved.

✅ When homeowners’ consent might be required.  

HOA bo...

In this HOA Q&A, HOA attorney Michael Kushner, the pioneer in homeowner-side HOA law in California, explains why HOAs cannot block homeowners from installing solar panels on their roofs and what limits California law places on the restrictions that HOAs are allowed to impose.  

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A:

✅ The role that Civil Code §§ 714 and 714.1 play in protecting homeowners’ solar rights.

✅ The hard limits on HOA...

In this episode, California’s leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains the concept of fee shifting statutes in California HOA litigation (i.e., when a party is awarded their attorneys’ fees when they win the lawsuit). He also identifies each statute in the Davis-Stirling Act that award homeowners their attorneys’ fees when they prevail. Finally, Kushner explains who homeowners can use their knowledge of those ...

In this HOA Q&A, California’s leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, addresses whether directors, candidates, or their spouses can serve as delegates and how delegate systems impact recall elections. 

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A:

✅ What the Davis-Stirling Act says about directors or candidates serving as delegates.

✅ How Corporations Code § 7152 governs delegate voting structures in HOAs.

✅ What role Civ...

In this HOA Q&A, California’s leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains what “delegate voting” means within the context of California HOAs and how it differs from the traditional one-member, one-vote system that most HOA members are used to. 

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A:

✅ How delegate voting differs from direct member voting.

✅ Why some large HOAs divide members into districts that elect delegate...

Thinking about dissolving your HOA? 

In this episode, California’s foremost expert and homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains that while dissolving your HOA is certainly possible, the reality is far more complicated.  

In this episode, attorney Michael Kushner breaks down what it actually takes to dissolve a California HOA, including the legal requirements and the multiple barriers that effectively stop the vast major...

In this HOA Q&A, pioneering homeowner-side HOA attorney Michael Kushner, a pioneer in homeowner-side HOA law in California, addresses a community-wide termite tenting project following years without inspections, and explains the legal issues tied to maintenance responsibility, board decision-making, and homeowner displacement and security. 

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A:

✅ Why termite tenting may be appropriate in a co...

In this HOA Q&A, HOA attorney Michael Kushner, widely regarded as California’s most experienced homeowner-side HOA lawyer, explains why an HOA board cannot avoid the Open Meeting Act by relabeling meetings as “planning sessions.” 

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A:

✅ When discussions regarding HOA business qualifies as a board meeting under Civil Code § 4090(a).

✅ What the Open Meeting Act requires in terms of notices, agen...

In this HOA Q&A, pioneering homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains why a board cannot cut off a homeowner during open forum simply because the topic is not listed on the meeting agenda. 

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A:

✅ That Civil Code § 4925 guarantees members the right to speak at board meetings.

✅ That Civil Code § 4930 allows homeowners to address any matter within the HOA’s jurisdiction during open ...

As the devastating fires that swept through Altadena, the Palisades, and Malibu in early 2025 showed us, California’s FAIR Plan is the only fire insurance coverage option available to many homeowners who live in high fire risk areas. And after those fires, more and more of those homeowners and their HOAs are learning that coverage under the FAIR Plan may not be enough to rebuild.  

In this episode, California’s foremost homeowner-si...