In today’s housing market you hear a lot about what a good time it is to be a landlord. In fact, some people are even opting to rent out their own homes and live elsewhere in order to stay current on payments or generate cash flow. While this is a great solution, there are many entities in the real estate world that are not fond of it – namely homeowners’ associations and other organizations that help handle condominiums and planned-unit developments that have strict anti-renting covenants designed to preserve property values. These organizations can evict your tenants, fine you and even in some cases foreclose on your property for mismanagement depending on the terms and conditions of the governing covenants.
In California, however, the governor is standing up for the landlords…sort of. Governor Brown recently signed into law legislation from July that permits people who owned properties that not cannot be rented out before that rule was made to continue to rent them out. The right does not pass with the property to a subsequent purchaser[1]. The law is not retroactive and applies to governing document provisions on or after January 1, 2012.
Do you think that this is a reasonable law? Should HOAs be able to restrict the right of homeowners to rent out their properties ever?
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[1] http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20110913_right.htm
More government–just what we need!! Although I agree in theory, we as owners, are entitled to do whatever we want with our property. That being said, if you signed an agreement that said you can’t rent it out, so be it. You wanted to live there, live with it, or better yet, change it within your HOA.
Most HOA in the country are hurting due to lack of dues being paid. Therefore it would behoove them to allow tenants for Fee Simple ownership. HOAs can’t get blood from a stone so if they want their annual dues, then they should allow tenants. Placing all tenants in one basket by assuming they’re all vagrants and “won’t pay” or won’t take care of the place, isn’t the answer. Landlords build the dues into the rent payments any way. And it’s not like the HOA is going to foreclose the moment the landlord’s grass becomes 1″ higher than a standard. Most reasonable HOAs around the nation don’t rock the boat. I personally know of a landlord who hasn’t paid her dues in two years. And they’re leaving her alone.