HOA HELL

While many questions we receive about HOAs have clean answers, the ones that end up in court rarely do. In this episode, HOA attorney Michael Kushner, California’s most experienced homeowner-side HOA attorney, and co-host Sam Khil, take opposite sides of a real jaw-dropping case out of the Nellie Gail HOA in Orange County. Coyotes cleared a family’s fence again and again, at all hours of the day and night, killing their...

In this HOA Q&A, California’s #1 homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains whether HOAs in California can ban kids from playing in the community’s common areas. One family got hit with a proposed rule that pushes their kids off every grass area in the neighborhood, leaving nothing but the private streets.  

So is an HOA allowed to do that, and what happens when the only place left to play is the one...

In this HOA Q&A, California’s most respected homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains whether a California HOA can require your child to wear a helmet on a bike or skateboard in the neighborhood. The answer hinges on a state law most parents have no idea is already on the books, and on exactly where your child rides. Kushner also addresses whether HOAs can require adults to wear helmets while in the common a...

Can your HOA tell you when, where, or whether you can fly the American flag on your own property? One San Diego County HOA just passed a policy trying to do exactly that, and Michael Kushner, California’s most recognized homeowner-side HOA attorney, calls it one of the clearest violations he has ever seen. In this Independence Day episode, Kushner breaks down Civil Code 4705 and 4710, the two Davis-Stirling statutes that deci...

In this HOA Q&A, California’s leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains when California parents can be criminally charged because of their kid’s e-bike. Parents are getting prosecuted across the state right now for injuries, deaths, and damages caused by their kids’ illegal use of e-bikes or e-motorcycles, and a lot of them never saw it coming. Civil liability is always present. But crimin...

In this HOA Q&A, California's leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains whether a California HOA can restrict residents from taking photos and video at the community pool. Picture this: you're poolside with your kids and a stranger starts snapping photos and recording video. Does your HOA have the power to pass a rule against it? This episode answers that question. 

🎯 What You'll Learn in This HOA Q&am...

You finally found a buyer for your condo. Great credit, healthy down payment, deal practically done, and then the loan falls apart, and it has nothing to do with your buyer. It has everything to do with how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac see your HOA. In this episode, attorney Michael Kushner, a pioneer in homeowner-side HOA law in California, breaks down the "Unavailable" and "Not Eligible" flags that can quietly make an entire commun...

In this HOA Q&A, HOA attorney Michael Kushner, the most well-known and respected homeowner-side HOA lawyer in California, addresses what condo owners can do when both their HOA’s master policy and their personal HO-6 coverage are non-renewed due to wildfire risk. 

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A:

✅ That you should start by checking whether your area was subject to a moratorium when your HO-6 policy got c...

Your teenager wants an e-bike, or already has one, and you may have no idea that the law can put you on the hook, financially and even criminally, if they ride it illegally and someone gets hurt. One California parent is already facing felony charges. In this episode, attorney Michael Kushner, California’s most experienced homeowner-side HOA attorney, breaks down the e-bike, e-scooter, and e-motorcycle laws, the very real lia...

In this HOA Q&A, California’s leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains how California’s new SB 625 protects homeowners from HOA delay tactics, subjective architectural objections, and rebuilding interference after declared disasters like the Altadena, Eton, and Palisades fires.  

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A:

 ✅ How SB 625 limits HOA interference with post-disaster reb...

Your HOA just sent a letter demanding $50,000 per household for balcony repairs, with 90 days to pay. How did the bill get this big, is it even legal, and is there any way to make someone other than you foot it? In Part 2 of this series on California's Balcony Law (SB 326), attorney Michael Kushner, considered by many in the industry to be the #1 homeowner-side HOA attorney in California, follows the money from why these special as...

In this HOA Q&A, California's leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains the five biggest strategic mistakes California homeowners make when fighting their HOA, and why even a homeowner who is completely right can still lose. 

Most homeowners who lose to a bad HOA don't lose on the facts or the law. They lose because of what they do in the early days of the fight, often without realizing the damage until...

Has your HOA told you the balcony inspection deadline is January 1, 2026? If so, your board may have already broken the law, and you could be the one left paying for it. In this episode, the first in a two-part series, attorney Michael Kushner, California’s most experienced homeowner-side HOA attorney, breaks down California’s Balcony Law (SB 326) and shows homeowners how to find out today whether their HOA is in compli...

In this HOA Q&A, California’s top homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, breaks down a growing problem in California HOAs involving “trust-owned” homes, unrecorded deeds, HOA voting rights, and who legally qualifies to sit on an HOA board under the Davis-Stirling Act. 

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A: 

✅ How California law defines an HOA “member” for voting and board e...

Some California HOA boards believe that if the association is small enough, the Davis-Stirling Act’s election rules do not apply to them. In this HOA Q&A, California’s most respected homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, sets the record straight on what Civil Code § 5110 requires, and size has nothing to do with it. 

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A:

✅ Whether small HOAs are exempt from the ...

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...

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 d...

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 med...