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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.
95 Episodes
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In this episode of HOA HELL, attorney Michael Kushner explains how conflicts of interest arise naturally inside California HOAs and why they only become a serious problem when boards fail to disclose them or handle them correctly. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✅ How the law defines a “conflict of interest.” ✅ The legal difference between abstaining and recusal. ✅ How conflicts of interest commonly appear in most HOAs. ✅ How to use Civil Code 5200 record requests to detect undiscl...
In this episode of HOA HELL, attorney Michael Kushner explains how California’s HOA Open Meeting Act works. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✅ What the Open Meeting Act is and the most common ways that HOAs in California violate it. ✅ The notice and agenda rules for all types of board meetings. ✅ The five specific topics that may be discussed in executive session and why everything else must be handled in open meetings. ✅ How emergency board meetings work. ✅ What you need to know ab...
In this 1-Minute Atty Tip, attorney Michael Kushner explains who’s responsible for the maintenance, repair, and replacement of HOA common areas and exclusive use common areas. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This 1-Minute Atty Tip: ✅ The default responsibility rules under Civil Code 4775. ✅ When HOAs must pay for repair, replacement, and maintenance of common area components. ✅ How responsibility works for exclusive use common area components. ✅ What to do when your HOA wrongly claims you owe fo...
If you receive a pre-lien letter from your HOA, you cannot ignore it. In this 1-Minute Atty Tip, attorney Michael Kushner breaks down what a pre-lien notice is, why you must not ignore it, and what you should do if you receive one. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This 1-Minute Atty Tip: ✅ What a pre-lien letter is and why it signals real risk to your property. ✅ The 30-day notice requirement before an HOA can record a lien or begin foreclosure. ✅ The immediate steps you can take to dispute char...
Attorney Michael Kushner breaks down one of the most common forms of HOA abuse in California: selective enforcement. This episode explains how homeowners can recognize selective enforcement, prove it, and demand equal treatment under California law. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✅ What selective enforcement looks. ✅ How favoritism and retaliation play a role in selective enforcement. ✅ The steps to take when your HOA targets you. Selective enforcement isn’t just unfair, it...
A neighbor keeps blocking your driveway and your HOA says it’s a private dispute? That’s not just frustrating. It’s wrong. In this 1-Minute Attorney Tip, attorney Michael Kushner explains why HOAs have a legal duty to enforce the governing documents. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This 1-Minute Tip: ✅ Why HOA boards are required to enforce rules about ingress, egress, and parking, and why “work it out with your neighbor” is the wrong answer. ✅ What legal tools homeowners can use to force board ...
In this episode of HOA HELL, attorney Michael Kushner explains how rulemaking works in California HOAs and when HOA boards must go to the membership for a vote. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✅ How rulemaking authority must be in the CC&Rs or Bylaws and why rules cannot conflict with higher documents. ✅ How a rule is legally adopted, including the notice-related timelines. ✅ How certain HOA board actions require a membership vote (e.g., increasing special assessments beyond a ...
In this special episode, attorney Michael Kushner reveals the inside story behind his groundbreaking new book: “HOA HELL | California Homeowners’ Definitive Guide to Beating Bad HOAs." In this episode, you’ll learn why HOA HELL is California’s ONLY definitive, practical, step-by-step guide for California HOA members. You’ll learn about his systems of “strategic persistence” and leverage “stacking,", and how those systems can you help you achieve real change in your HOA. This epis...
Your HOA says your guests can’t use the pool or that you’re hosting too many visitors. Can they do that? In this HOA Q&A, attorney Michael Kushner explains when guest-related rules are enforceable and when your HOA may be crossing the line. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A: ✅ Why your HOA can’t restrict who you invite into your home. ✅ When guest use of common areas can be limited by rules. Michael explains the difference between valid guest restrictions and overreach, and wh...
In this episode of HOA HELL, attorney Michael Kushner explains how California HOA elections are supposed to work and what to do when boards cut corners or game the process. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✅ How secret balloting actually works. ✅ The core duties of the designated inspector of elections and who can serve as a truly independent inspector. ✅ Member voting rights. ✅ Whether to file a lawsuit in small claims court or the superior court. This episode fills you in on the t...
Your HOA is breaking the rules, but can you report them to a state agency in California? In this HOA Q&A, attorney Michael Kushner explains why there’s no state oversight body for HOAs, and what legal options homeowners actually have when the board violates the law. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A: ✅ That the Department of Real Estate and Attorney General don’t handle HOA complaints. ✅ What enforcement tools homeowners do have. ✅ How civil legal tools are the only real path ...
In this episode of HOA HELL, attorney Michael Kushner breaks down when California HOA board misconduct actually crosses the line from civil wrongdoing into criminal behavior. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✅ The difference between civil HOA violations and conduct that can lead to criminal charges. ✅ Real examples of board misconduct that qualify as crimes, including embezzlement, theft by false pretenses, filing false documents, forgery, perjury, and criminal elder abuse. ✅ Why so...
Your HOA says you left your trash cans out too long and hits you with a fine. Is that legal? In this HOA Q&A, attorney Michael Kushner explains when trash can rules are enforceable and where boards often go too far. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This HOA Q&A: ✅ That HOAs are allowed to adopt rules about trash can timing. ✅ Rules must meet the requirements of Civil Code § 4350. ✅ Why next-morning deadlines are likely valid, but 7:00 p.m. deadlines may not be. Michael breaks down h...
In this episode of HOA HELL, attorney Michael Kushner explains how California law defines emotional distress and why the term means something very different inside a courtroom than it does in everyday life. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✅ The difference between ordinary emotional stress and the legal standards for emotional distress damages. ✅ The elements of Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED) and Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress (NIED) under California...
In this episode of HOA Hell, attorney Michael Kushner tackles real-life mental health scenarios in California HOAs and explains how disability protections intersect with nuisance rules. You’ll hear how FHA and FEHA apply, where boards cross the line with harassment, public shaming, or refusing reasonable accommodations, and what practical accommodations and processes actually look like. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✅ How mental health conditions are treated as disabilities under...
In this episode of HOA Hell, attorney Michael Kushner explains what California HOAs are actually required to do, and not required to do, about crime and safety within their communities. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✅ HOAs are not private police and are not guarantors of anyone’s safety. ✅ HOA boards have a duty to exercise reasonable care regarding the common areas under their control by, for example, repairing safety features (e.g., lighting, gates, locks, cameras, or access s...
In this episode of HOA Hell, attorney Michael Kushner breaks down what “fiduciary duty” actually means for California HOA boards and why it matters to your rights, your money, and your quality of life. You’ll hear plain-English examples of the two duties that make up the fiduciary duty in the HOA setting (i.e., the duty of care and the duty of loyalty), and you’ll learn how transparency defeats self-dealing, what confidentiality really requires, and the specific steps homeowners can take when...
In this consultation-centered, “grab-bag” episode of HOA Hell, attorney Michael Kushner walks through real homeowner consultations to show what works, what doesn’t, and how to avoid costly mistakes when dealing with your HOA. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode: ✅ What an ADR demand means in the context of HOA disputes and the Davis-Stirling Act, and the risk of refusing to offer to participate in it. ✅ Service animals amenities, the only two questions an HOA may ask, and why treating a...
California’s new law, AB 130, caps HOA fines at $100 per violation. On the surface, that sounds like a win for homeowners. But not so fast. AB 130 is actually a disaster of a law, and in this 1-Min Attorney tip, HOA attorney, Michael Kushner, explains why. Rather than curbing HOA abuse, AB 130 is already fueling more ADR demands (the precursor to more lawsuits), more confusion, and more board misconduct. A lot of HOAs are going to go down one of two roads: (a) they’re either going to b...
In this episode of HOA Hell, attorney Michael Kushner breaks down one of the most common homeowner complaints that his law firm (MBK CHAPMAN) hears from homeowners. Selective enforcement. If your HOA fines you while letting neighbors slide for the same thing, or if your HOA allows others to build things on their properties but denies you permission to build the same type of thing, then your HOA is engaging in selective enforcement, and that’s against the law. In this episode, Kushner explains...
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