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HOA Hell with Michael Kushner is your inside guide to surviving—and winning—against California’s most abusive and overreaching HOAs. Leveraging almost 30 years of experience fighting for HOA members, Michael Kushner gives California homeowners real tools to fight back against abusive boards, outrageous rules, and everyday HOA nonsense. If your HOA is making your life a living Hell, then this podcast is for you.
123 Episodes
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When homeowners start talking about recalling their HOA board, someone from the HOA’s “side” always predicts chaos. Sometimes they claim that management will quit ands leave the HOA in chaos, while others go even further and predict the HOA’s collapse. Those fears never prove accurate. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This 1-Minute Tip: ✅ Recalls usually happen because something has already gone terribly wrong. ✅ Management resignations after a recall, when they do happen, are almost always a GO...
Architectural committees are common in California HOAs, but not every HOA has one. When an HOA does use an Architectural Review Committee, Architectural Control Committee, or Design Review Committee (these are all different names for the same committee), homeowners often misunderstand what that committee can do, where its authority comes from, and what rights the homeowner has after a denial. In this episode, California’s leading homeowner-side HOA lawyer, Michael Kushner, focuses speci...
In this HOA Q&A, California’s leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains your statutory right to have your attorney present during an Internal Dispute Resolution meeting with your HOA and why giving advance notice, although not required, is still a good idea. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A: ✅ That the Davis-Stirling Act grants you the right to have an attorney represent you at an IDR. ✅ Why you should notify your HOA in advance if you plan on having your...
HOA boards often throw around the Business Judgment Rule to shut conversations down and scare homeowners away from pushing back. In this Tip, California’s leading HOA lawyer, Michael Kushner, explains how Bad HOAs use that tactic and what the Business Judgment Rule has to say about it. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This 1-Minute Tip: ✅ How bad HOAs use the Business Judgment Rule as an intimidation tool. ✅ Why invoking the Business Judgment Rule does not block lawsuits, prevent court review, o...
Bill Handel does not need an introduction in Southern California. In this episode of HOA HELL, attorney Michael Kushner sits down with Bill Handel, the voice behind Handel on the Law and the most listened to morning talk show in the country hosted by Bill Handel on KFI’s AM 640. If you follow talk radio in Southern California, you know Bill’s style. Humor, speed, and a career built on answering legal questions in an entertaining way that people remember. This is a wide-ranging conversat...
In this Q&A, HOA attorney Michael Kushner addresses whether a neighbor was legally justified in pepper spraying a dog that was behind a wall on its owner’s property in a California HOA community. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A: ✅ When Penal Code § 597 makes intentionally injuring an animal a crime. ✅ What “imminent threat” actually means under California law. ✅ How misidentification, prior harassment, and retaliatory conduct affect liability analysis. Kushner explains...
Most California HOAs still have not rolled out electronic voting, even though the law has allowed it since January 1, 2025. That is because the law is not automatic, and HOAs have to do real homework before electronic voting is legal in their specific community. In this episode, California’s leading homeowner-side HOA lawyer, Michael Kushner, explains California’s electronic voting law and what has to happen before your HOA can switch from paper ballots to electronic voting without crea...
When an HOA board votes to “censure” one of its own directors, it often sounds like discipline. It sounds serious. It sounds like removal. But in California HOAs, censure is something much narrower, and it is frequently misunderstood or misused. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This 1-Minute Tip: ✅ Why censure is not removal from the board. ✅ Why a censured director keeps full voting and participation rights under Civil Code § 5350. ✅ How bad HOA boards weaponize censure to intimidate dissenting ...
While HOA boards do not have to keep every homeowner complaint confidential just because someone asks, there are situations where an HOA must keep member communications confidential. This episode covers two scenarios that come up constantly in HOAs. One involves a neighbor complaint and a disturbing pet-related incident, so trigger warning for animal lovers. The other involves a homeowner reporting suspected financial misconduct by management, and what a director should do instead of forwardi...
Bad HOA boards in California love to cite the Business Judgment Rule as if it ends the conversation. It doesn’t. In California, the Business Judgment Rule does not protect boards that act in bad faith, ignore their duties, or refuse to act at all. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This 1-Minute Tip: ✅ When directors in California HOAs lose the protections afforded by the Business Judgment Rule. ✅ The types of conduct that strip directors of legal protection. This is Tip 2 of a 3-part 1-Minut...
If your HOA lets sitting board members use the newsletter, email list, website, or clubhouse during an election, it cannot pick favorites. The Davis-Stirling Act requires equal access once HOA resources enter the campaign arena. When incumbents get the microphone, challengers get it too. If the board tips the scale, homeowners can challenge the election. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This 1-Minute Tip: ✅ What “equal access” means in terms of HOA election laws under Civil Code § 5105. ✅ W...
Water intrusion disputes in HOAs don’t turn into major disputes for just one reason. Some are disasters from the moment water enters a unit. Others spiral because of what follows, such as disputes regarding insurance, deductibles, remediation, relocation, mold, and delays. In this Part 2 of 2, attorney Michael Kushner breaks down the post-leak events that turn water intrusion events in California HOAs into expensive and drawn out disputes. The focus is on what happens after water enter...
In this Q&A, attorney Michael Kushner explains who controls the location of an Internal Dispute Resolution meeting in California HOAs and why neither the homeowner nor the board gets to dictate it under the Davis-Stirling Act. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A: ✅ Who has authority to select the location for an IDR under Civil Code § 5915(b)(4). ✅ What “mutually convenient time and place” legally requires from both homeowners and HOAs. ✅ How homeowners should respond when an HO...
When water leaks into your home, most homeowners are told one of two things: the HOA has to pay for everything, or go through your own insurance. Both answers are often wrong. In Part 1 of this two-part HOA HELL episode, attorney Michael Kushner breaks down why water intrusion disputes are so common in California HOAs, and why bad boards and managers give oversimplified answers that can cost homeowners thousands of dollars. What You’ll Learn: ✅ Why water leak disputes in HOAs are more c...
In this HOA Q&A, attorney Michael Kushner explains when an HOA can face liability (for resulting injuries or deaths) for serving alcohol at an HOA-sponsored event, and why most HOA-sponsored gatherings remain protected under Civil Code § 1714. This segment clears up a common misconception about fees, alcohol service, and third-party injury claims. What You’ll Learn in This Episode ✅ When an HOA is protected as a social host under Civil Code § 1714. ✅ The single circumstance wh...
In this special extended episode of HOA HELL, attorney Michael Kushner addresses a growing problem in California HOA disputes, where slick marketing and SEO visibility increasingly replace real legal experience, accuracy, and performance. If you are trying to figure out who the real HOA experts are and who the slickly-marketed pretenders are, this episode is for you. What You’ll Learn in This Episode ✅ The 3 filters you should always use before you ever hire an HOA law firm....
* UNLESS they give equal access to all candidates. If you’re running against sitting HOA board members, California law strictly limits how they can campaign. Directors cannot use HOA-funded resources to influence an election unless they give equal access to every candidate. When incumbents take over official HOA channels and shut others out, they break the law. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This 1-Minute Tip: ✅ What California Civil Code § 5135 prohibits during HOA elections. ✅ Which HOA resou...
In this HOA Q&A, HOA HELL host Michael Kushner explains why short-term use of the clubhouse by an HOA member for a private event, like a wedding reception or birthday party, does not constitute a transfer of common area to a member for that member’s exclusive use, and therefore does not trigger the membership vote requirement contained in Civil Code § 4600. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A: ✅ Why temporary reservations don’t constitute a grant of exclusive use under Civ...
HOA director term limits create confusion for homeowners and boards alike. Some people insist they’re invalid under California law. Others rely on them to force board turnover. Both sides often speak with confidence, but not accuracy. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This 1-Minute Tip: ✅ When term limits can be enforced in California HOAs. ✅ Where valid term limits must appear to have legal effect. ✅ The potential problems associated with term limits and how smart boards address those problems.&n...
In this episode of HOA HELL, attorney Michael Kushner breaks down the Business Judgment Rule, including its purpose and how bad HOAs misuse it to shut homeowners down. If your board or manager keeps throwing the “BJR” at you as if it ends the conversation, this episode is for you. What You’ll Learn in This Episode ✅ What the Business Judgment Rule is and why it exists. ✅ That the Business Judgment Rule does not decide disputes or bar lawsuits. ✅ How Corporations Code section 7231 ...
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