By Curtis G. Kimble.
This year was another busy year at the Utah legislature for the HOA world. Many changes and additions were made to the statutes that govern condominiums, community associations and nonprofit corporations. As always, refer to the UtahHOALaws app on your iOS device or Android device, or on the web at utahhoalaws.com for the current HOA statutes.
The most significant changes that affect HOAs are laws that:
- Change how fines must be levied and collected,
- Require board meetings to be open to the association membership,
- Change what rental restrictions may be adopted by an association after May 12, 2015,
- Set forth requirements and procedures for record keeping and making records available to members.
Fines.
Utah Code 57-8a-208 for community associations (non-condo HOAs), and Utah Code 57-8-37 for condos, provides certain requirements for levying fines. These laws went into effect May 12, 2015.
Before assessing a fine, the board must give the owner a written warning that:
- describes the violation;
- states the rule or provision of the association’s governing documents that the owner’s conduct violates;
- states that the board may assess fines against the owner if a continuing violation is not cured or if the owner commits similar violations within one year; and
- if the violation is a continuing violation, states a time that is not less than 48 hours after the day on which the board gives the owner the written warning by which the lot owner must cure the violation.
Then, a board may assess a fine if:
- within one year after the board gives written warning, the owner commits another violation of the same rule or provision identified in the written warning; or
- for a continuing violation, the owner does not cure the violation within the time period that is stated in the written warning.
Subsequent fines. If permitted by the association’s governing documents, after the board assesses a fine against an owner, the board may, without further warning, assess an additional fine against the owner each time the owner:
- commits a violation of the same rule or provision within one year after the day on which the board assesses a fine for a violation of the same rule or provision; or
- allows a violation to continue for 10 days or longer after the day on which the board assesses the fine (thus, there must be a 10-day period between fines for continuous violations).
Note, as indicated for “subsequent fines,” it is important to have a schedule of fines or fining policy in place in the governing documents (if not in the CC&Rs, then in the rules or separate policy) that allows for levying more than one fine for the same violation without having to repeatedly provide notice first. Contact us for help with that, if needed.
In my next post, I’ll discuss the new laws on open meetings and rentals.
Utah HOA Law Blog 
Do you have any information on how many neighbor votes (percentage) it would take to vote becoming or starting an HOA?
It depend what covenants are already in place (already recorded against the lots). If there are no covenants (CC&Rs, etc.), then you would need the approval of all homeowners. If there are recorded covenants of some type, they would need to be analyzed (by a qualified HOA attorney) to determine the options for forming an HOA.
The UCOA doesn’t require the board to give the homeowner a verbal notice before a threatening letter from the HOA’s atty. Especially in cases when the issue at hand isn’t written in the CC&R’s or the Rules and Regulations. Is that common practice?
What about fines for non payment without notification or a bill being sent? The hoa recently put a lien on my home for non payment. I’m new to the neighborhood and have never received a bill or a single notice of past due warnings. Some 30 other residents are in the same position as me. The hoa company chose to only do email billing without requesting emails. The lien was also put on homes without notification.
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