An HOA isn't just a billing office. When it controls the common areas, California holds the association — and sometimes its individual board members — to a landlord's standard of care.

QIM 33 | Real Estate Litigation | Law Desk

Ava: Michael, a lot of people think of their homeowners' association as basically a billing service — it collects dues and sends nastygrams about your trash cans. But what happens when a resident gets hurt because the HOA ignored a known danger in the common area? Is the association actually on the hook?

Michael Benavides, Esq.: It can be — and this is one of the most important things a homeowner in a condo or planned development should understand. An HOA is not "just a billing office." When it controls the common areas, California treats it as owing a real duty of care. The landmark case is Frances T. v. Village Green Owners Association (1986) 42 Cal.3d 490, where our Supreme Court held that a homeowners' association can be held to the same standard of care as a landlord when it comes to the safety of common areas.

Ava: Landlord-level responsibility — even though it's technically a nonprofit run by volunteer neighbors?

Michael Benavides, Esq.: Right, and that's exactly the point people miss. The association tried to argue it wasn't a landlord in the traditional sense — just a nonprofit association of homeowners. The court said that doesn't get you off the hook. What matters is control: because the association controlled the common areas and had the power to fix or address a dangerous condition, it also carried the duty to act reasonably. Power over the common area comes bundled with responsibility for it.

Ava: What actually happened in that case?

Michael Benavides, Esq.: Broadly, a resident was concerned about inadequate lighting and asked the association to improve it or let her protect herself; the association delayed, failed to address the hazardous lighting condition in a reasonable time, and even ordered her to remove protective lighting she had installed — and she was later harmed. The court held those alleged acts and omissions could support a negligence claim. The lesson isn't about one set of facts; it's the principle: an HOA that knows about a dangerous condition in an area it controls and unreasonably fails to act can be liable for resulting harm.

Ava: Here's the part that would scare me if I were on a board — can the individual board members personally get sued, or is it just the association?

Michael Benavides, Esq.: That's the sharpest edge of Frances T. The court held that individual directors can also owe a duty of care and face personal liability for their own negligent conduct — there, for ordering the removal of the lighting and failing to fix the hazard in a reasonable time. Serving on a volunteer board does not automatically wrap you in immunity. Boards should take known-hazard complaints seriously, document what they do about them, and act within a reasonable time — that's not just good governance, it's liability protection.

Ava: So if you're a homeowner who's been raising a safety issue and getting stonewalled?

Michael Benavides, Esq.: Put it in writing, keep a record of every request and the association's response — or silence — and note any injuries or near-misses. That paper trail is what turns "they should have done something" into a provable negligence claim. Honest caveat: these cases are fact-specific — liability turns on what the association actually knew, how much control it had over the condition, and whether its response was reasonable — so not every unhappy interaction with an HOA is a lawsuit. But a known, ignored danger in a controlled common area is exactly the situation Frances T. was written for.

Ava: Bottom line?

Michael Benavides, Esq.: An HOA's control over the common areas comes with a landlord-level duty to keep them reasonably safe — and the board members who make the decisions can't always hide behind the entity. If you've been hurt because an association ignored a hazard it had the power to fix, that's worth a serious look.

Talk it through with Law Desk. If an HOA ignored a dangerous condition and someone got hurt, a California attorney can evaluate the association's — and the board's — potential liability. Schedule a consultation with Michael Benavides, Esq.

Disclaimer

Attorney advertising. General information about California premises-liability and HOA law, not legal advice; reading it creates no attorney-client relationship. Liability is highly fact-specific and depends on knowledge, control, and reasonableness; statutes and case law change and are applied differently to different facts — confirm the current rules with a licensed California attorney before acting. Michael Benavides, Esq. — California State Bar No. 270714 — is the only licensed attorney and the source of every legal statement here. Ava Benavides is an editorial brand voice, not an attorney, and does not give legal advice in her own name.