RESIDENT DISPUTES – TO INTERVENE OR NOT (February 2025)

In a recent case, Woolard v. Regent Real Estate Services, Inc., the California Court of Appeal held that homeowners associations and their management companies do not have a duty to intervene in and to attempt to resolve disputes between homeowners or their tenants.  In that case, an altercation between tenants ensued in one of their units after an alleged history of harassment.  The HOA and its management company were sued for not intervening and preventing the altercation.  The court found no liability as a matter of law because the HOA and management company did not have a duty to intervene in the dispute.

 The result arguably could be different if an altercation occurs in the common area.  HOAs have a duty to exercise due care for the residents’ safety in the common areas, similar to a duty a landlord owes to his tenants.  Landlords owe a duty to their tenants to reasonably secure common areas against foreseeable third-party criminal activity.  Arguably, these principles could be extended to require the HOA to intervene and take reasonable steps to resolve the dispute if an altercation ensues in the common area when the HOA knew about the dispute beforehand and the altercation was reasonably foreseeable.
 
The result could also be different in the discrimination arena.  Harassment can be a discriminatory practice, and HUD adopted regulations under the Fair Housing Act that, among other things, render a person (including an HOA) liable for failing to take prompt action to correct and end a discriminatory housing practice by a third party, when the person knew or should have known of the discriminatory conduct and had the power to correct it.  Accordingly, a HOA may be liable when there is a dispute that qualifies as harassment and involves a resident who is a member of a protected class (race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, and familial status); provided that HOA has, under the governing documents or the law, the power to take action.
 
Of further note, the Woolard court agreed with the court in a different case that tenants have no right to enforce the governing documents, even when they are bound by the CC&Rs under its own terms.