Documents to Owners & Buyers

CIVIL CODE

SECTION 5200-5240

5200.  For the purposes of this article, the following definitions
shall apply:
   (a) "Association records" means all of the following:
   (1) Any financial document required to be provided to a member in
Article 7 (commencing with Section 5300) or in Sections 5565 and
5810.
   (2) Any financial document or statement required to be provided in
Article 2 (commencing with Section 4525) of Chapter 4.
   (3) Interim financial statements, periodic or as compiled,
containing any of the following:
   (A) Balance sheet.
   (B) Income and expense statement.
   (C) Budget comparison.
   (D) General ledger. A "general ledger" is a report that shows all
transactions that occurred in an association account over a specified
period of time.
   The records described in this paragraph shall be prepared in
accordance with an accrual or modified accrual basis of accounting.
   (4) Executed contracts not otherwise privileged under law.
   (5) Written board approval of vendor or contractor proposals or
invoices.
   (6) State and federal tax returns.
   (7) Reserve account balances and records of payments made from
reserve accounts.
   (8) Agendas and minutes of meetings of the members, the board, and
any committees appointed by the board pursuant to Section 7212 of
the Corporations Code; excluding, however,minutes and other
information from executive sessions of the board as described in
Article 2 (commencing with Section 4900).
   (9) Membership lists, including name, property address, and
mailing address, but not including information for members who have
opted out pursuant to Section 5220.
   (10) Check registers.
   (11) The governing documents.
   (12) An accounting prepared pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section
5520.
   (13) An "enhanced association record" as defined in subdivision
(b).
   (b) "Enhanced association records" means invoices, receipts and
canceled checks for payments made by the association, purchase orders
approved by the association, credit card statements for credit cards
issued in the name of the association, statements for services
rendered, and reimbursement requests submitted to the association.

5205.  (a) The association shall make available association records
for the time periods and within the timeframes provided in Section
5210 for inspection and copying by a member of the association, or
the member's designated representative.
   (b) A member of the association may designate another person to
inspect and copy the specified association records on the member's
behalf. The member shall make this designation in writing.
   (c) The association shall make the specified association records
available for inspection and copying in the association's business
office within the common interest development.
   (d) If the association does not have a business office within the
development, the association shall make the specified association
records available for inspection and copying at a place agreed to by
the requesting member and the association.
   (e) If the association and the requesting member cannot agree upon
a place for inspection and copying pursuant to subdivision (d) or if
the requesting member submits a written request directly to the
association for copies of specifically identified records, the
association may satisfy the requirement to make the association
records available for inspection and copying by delivering copies of
the specifically identified records to the member by individual
delivery pursuant to Section 4040 within the timeframes set forth in
subdivision (b) of Section 5210.
   (f) The association may bill the requesting member for the direct
and actual cost of copying and mailing requested documents. The
association shall inform the member of the amount of the copying and
mailing costs, and the member shall agree to pay those costs, before
copying and sending the requested documents.
   (g) In addition to the direct and actual costs of copying and
mailing, the association may bill the requesting member an amount not
in excess of ten dollars ($10) per hour, and not to exceed two
hundred dollars ($200) total per written request, for the time
actually and reasonably involved in redacting an enhanced association
record. If the enhanced association record includes a reimbursement
request, the person submitting the reimbursement request shall be
solely responsible for removing all personal identification
information from the request. The association shall inform the member
of the estimated costs, and the member shall agree to pay those
costs, before retrieving the requested documents.
   (h) Requesting parties shall have the option of receiving
specifically identified records by electronic transmission or
machine-readable storage media as long as those records can be
transmitted in a redacted format that does not allow the records to
be altered. The cost of duplication shall be limited to the direct
cost of producing the copy of a record in that electronic format. The
association may deliver specifically identified records by
electronic transmission or machine-readable storage media as long as
those records can be transmitted in a redacted format that prevents
the records from being altered.

5210.  (a) Association records are subject to member inspection for
the following time periods:
   (1) For the current fiscal year and for each of the previous two
fiscal years.
   (2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), minutes of member and board
meetings are subject to inspection permanently. If a committee has
decisionmaking authority, minutes of the meetings of that committee
shall be made available commencing January 1, 2007, and shall
thereafter be permanently subject to inspection.
   (b) When a member properly requests access to association records,
access to the requested records shall be granted within the
following time periods:
   (1) Association records prepared during the current fiscal year,
within 10 business days following the association's receipt of the
request.
   (2) Association records prepared during the previous two fiscal
years, within 30 calendar days following the association's receipt of
the request.
   (3) Any record or statement available pursuant to Article 2
(commencing with Section 4525) of Chapter 4, Article 7 (commencing
with Section 5300), Section 5565, or Section 5810, within the
timeframe specified therein.
   (4) Minutes of member and board meetings, within the timeframe
specified in subdivision (a) of Section 4950.
   (5) Minutes of meetings of committees with decisionmaking
authority for meetings commencing on or after January 1, 2007, within
15 calendar days following approval.
   (6) Membership list, within the timeframe specified in Section
8330 of the Corporations Code.
   (c) There shall be no liability pursuant to this article for an
association that fails to retain records for the periods specified in
subdivision (a) that were created prior to January 1, 2006.

5215.  (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), the association
may withhold or redact information from the association records if
any of the following are true:
   (1) The release of the information is reasonably likely to lead to
identity theft. For the purposes of this section, "identity theft"
means the unauthorized use of another person's personal identifying
information to obtain credit, goods, services, money, or property.
Examples of information that may be withheld or redacted pursuant to
this paragraph include bank account numbers of members or vendors,
social security or tax identification numbers, and check, stock, and
credit card numbers.
   (2) The release of the information is reasonably likely to lead to
fraud in connection with the association.
   (3) The information is privileged under law. Examples include
documents subject to attorney-client privilege or relating to
litigation in which the association is or may become involved, and
confidential settlement agreements.
   (4) The release of the information is reasonably likely to
compromise the privacy of an individual member of the association.
   (5) The information contains any of the following:
   (A) Records of goods or services provided a la carte to individual
members of the association for which the association received
monetary consideration other than assessments.
   (B) Records of disciplinary actions, collection activities, or
payment plans of members other than the member requesting the
records.
   (C) Any person's personal identification information, including,
without limitation, social security number, tax identification
number, driver's license number, credit card account numbers, bank
account number, and bank routing number.
   (D) Minutes and other information from executive sessions of the
board as described in Article 2 (commencing with Section 4900),
except for executed contracts not otherwise privileged. Privileged
contracts shall not include contracts for maintenance, management, or
legal services.
   (E) Personnel records other than the payroll records required to
be provided under subdivision (b).
   (F) Interior architectural plans, including security features, for
individual homes.
   (b) Except as provided by the attorney-client privilege, the
association may not withhold or redact information concerning the
compensation paid to employees, vendors, or contractors. Compensation
information for individual employees shall be set forth by job
classification or title, not by the employee's name, social security
number, or other personal information.
   (c) No association, officer, director, employee, agent, or
volunteer of an association shall be liable for damages to a member
of the association or any third party as the result of identity theft
or other breach of privacy because of the failure to withhold or
redact that member's information under this section unless the
failure to withhold or redact the information was intentional,
willful, or negligent.
   (d) If requested by the requesting member, an association that
denies or redacts records shall provide a written explanation
specifying the legal basis for withholding or redacting the requested
records.

5220.  A member of the association may opt out of the sharing of
that member's name, property address, and mailing address by
notifying the association in writing that the member prefers to be
contacted via the alternative process described in subdivision (c) of
Section 8330 of the Corporations Code. This opt out shall remain in
effect until changed by the member.



5225.  A member requesting the membership list shall state the
purpose for which the list is requested which purpose shall be
reasonably related to the requester's interest as a member. If the
association reasonably believes that the information in the list will
be used for another purpose, it may deny the member access to the
list. If the request is denied, in any subsequent action brought by
the member under Section 5235, the association shall have the burden
to prove that the member would have allowed use of the information
for purposes unrelated to the member's interest as a member.

5230.  (a) The association records, and any information from them,
may not be sold, used for a commercial purpose, or used for any other
purpose not reasonably related to a member's interest as a member.
An association may bring an action against any person who violates
this article for injunctive relief and for actual damages to the
association caused by the violation.
   (b) This article may not be construed to limit the right of an
association to damages for misuse of information obtained from the
association records pursuant to this article or to limit the right of
an association to injunctive relief to stop the misuse of this
information.
   (c) An association shall be entitled to recover reasonable costs
and expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees, in a successful
action to enforce its rights under this article.

5235.  (a) A member may bring an action to enforce that member's
right to inspect and copy the association records. If a court finds
that the association unreasonably withheld access to the association
records, the court shall award the member reasonable costs and
expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees, and may assess a
civil penalty of up to five hundred dollars ($500) for the denial of
each separate written request.
   (b) A cause of action under this section may be brought in small
claims court if the amount of the demand does not exceed the
jurisdiction of that court.
   (c) A prevailing association may recover any costs if the court
finds the action to be frivolous, unreasonable, or without
foundation.

5240.  (a) As applied to an association and its members, the
provisions of this article are intended to supersede the provisions
of Sections 8330 and 8333 of the Corporations Code to the extent
those sections are inconsistent.
   (b) Except as provided in subdivision (a), members of the
association shall have access to association records, including
accounting books and records and membership lists, in accordance with
Article 3 (commencing with Section 8330) of Chapter 13 of Part 3 of
Division 2 of Title 1 of the Corporations Code.
   (c) This article applies to any community service organization or
similar entity that is related to the association, and to any
nonprofit entity that provides services to a common interest
development under a declaration of trust. This article shall operate
to give a member of the organization or entity a right to inspect and
copy the records of that organization or entity equivalent to that
granted to association members by this article.
   (d) This article shall not apply to any common interest
development in which separate interests are being offered for sale by
a subdivider under the authority of a public report issued by the
Bureau of Real Estate so long as the subdivider or all subdividers
offering those separate interests for sale, or any employees of those
subdividers or any other person who receives direct or indirect
compensation from any of those subdividers, comprise a majority of
the directors. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this article shall
apply to that common interest development no later than 10 years
after the close of escrow for the first sale of a separate interest
to a member of the general public pursuant to the public report
issued for the first phase of the development.