The Assessment That Blew Up in Their Faces
Every few years you hear about an HOA that levied a special assessment, got hit with a lawsuit two weeks later, and had to refund everything while the roof kept leaking. The assessment wasn't necessarily unfair. The money was genuinely needed. The problem was procedure — specifically, the board skipped or botched steps that Davis-Stirling spells out in plain language.
If you're sitting on a board right now staring down a $180,000 plumbing repair or a depleted reserve fund, this is the guide you need before you send out a single notice.
What Davis-Stirling Actually Requires
Civil Code § 5600 gives HOAs the authority to levy assessments. But authority and compliance are two different things. For a special assessment that exceeds 5% of the association's budgeted gross expenses for the fiscal year, Civil Code § 5605(b) requires membership approval by a majority vote at a meeting or by written ballot — not just a board vote.
Let that sink in. If your annual operating budget is $400,000, any special assessment over $20,000 needs owner approval. Many boards don't realize that threshold is calculated against budgeted gross expenses, not just the reserve fund balance or net operating costs.
For assessments under that threshold, the board can act on its own, but you still need to follow the notice requirements under Civil Code § 5615. Specifically, owners must receive written notice at least 30 days before the assessment takes effect. That notice has to include the reason for the assessment, the total amount, and each owner's share.
The Member Vote Process When You Need One
If you're over the 5% threshold, you're into secret ballot territory under Civil Code § 5100. That means:
- Written notice of the election sent at least 30 days before the ballot deadline, describing the purpose and amount
- Ballots cast in a double-envelope system (inner envelope with no identifying information, outer envelope with owner signature)
- A third party inspector of elections who isn't a board member or their close relative
- Ballots opened and counted at a meeting open to all members
This process takes time. Budget at least 45 to 60 days from the decision to pursue a vote to the day you can actually start collecting money. If you have an urgent repair, you may need to explore a line of credit to bridge the gap while the vote runs its course — something worth discussing with your association's attorney.
Emergency Exceptions Are Narrower Than You Think
Civil Code § 5610 does allow a board to levy a special assessment exceeding the 5% threshold without a member vote in a genuine emergency — specifically, an extraordinary expense required by an order of a court, or an expense necessary to repair or maintain common area where a threat to personal safety is involved, or an expense necessary to avoid significant additional cost.
But courts and owners read "emergency" narrowly. "We've known the elevator was aging for three years" doesn't qualify. "The elevator failed inspection this morning and people can't reach the third floor" might. Document the specific event that created the emergency, get it on record in your meeting minutes with the date and time, and have legal counsel sign off before you bypass the vote requirement. Saving six weeks on process isn't worth the litigation exposure.
Allocation: Who Pays What
Unless your CC&Rs say otherwise, special assessments are typically allocated the same way regular assessments are — often equally per unit or by percentage interest as defined in your declaration. Civil Code § 5600(b) makes clear that assessments must be levied according to the governing documents.
This is where boards sometimes get creative in ways that backfire. Charging owners with larger units more than their percentage interest specifies, or trying to exempt units that weren't "affected" by the repair, can invalidate the assessment entirely. Stick to whatever allocation formula your CC&Rs already use.
Keeping the Paper Trail Clean
If an owner challenges the assessment 18 months from now, your defense is entirely documentary. That means board meeting minutes that reflect a quorum, the specific motion language, the vote count, copies of all notices sent with proof of mailing, and the ballots themselves stored for at least one year per Civil Code § 5125.
Boards that self-manage with Boardly tend to keep this documentation organized by default because the notice and ballot processes are built into how they operate, rather than living in someone's email drafts folder. That's not magic — it's just what happens when the process has a defined home.
Before You Vote on Anything
Two things worth doing before the board votes to pursue a special assessment: get a written estimate (not a verbal one) from at least two contractors so you have a defensible number, and review your reserve study to see if any portion of the repair was anticipated. If reserves were supposed to cover this and didn't, that's a conversation worth having with owners anyway — and it may affect how you frame the assessment notice.
The boards that get through special assessments without drama aren't doing anything exotic. They're reading the statute, counting to 30 days, and keeping their paperwork.