Homeowner Associations/POOF!: $159,269.61 In Attorney’s Fees And Costs To HOA Evaporated On Appeal In Landscaping Plan Submission Dispute

 

Sobering Case for HOAs, Good One for Homeowners.

     Winchester Community Assn. v. Perrotta, Case No. C075562 (3d Dist. July 21, 2016) (unpublished) involved a situation where homeowners and an HOA got into a dispute over the review of submission of landscaping plans. Association won at the trial level and was awarded attorney’s fees and costs of $159,269.61.

     Those awards went away on appeal. The reason? HOA prevented performance of a settlement agreement between the parties allowing for review of landscaping plans by refusing to review the submissions. The appellate court reversed the fees/costs award, but ordered the HOA to either approve/disapprove the plans and allowed homeowners a specified amount of time to get Placer County final inspections/permitting. This result should remind HOAs that they need to be reasonable in their review process of submitted landscaping or architectural plans by homeowners; if not, the courts may well be the arbiter of what is right—even at the appellate level.