Whether you are a member of an HOA or an HOA owner, you know that the balance and clarity of your HOA depends on the regulations that govern it. Prior to 1985, however, those guidelines did not exist.

In 1963, California passed the California Condominium Act. Even with this Act, though, the laws that dictated the proceedings of homeowners associations were not compiled in one place, making it difficult to discern how HOAs should proceed.

Fortunately, in 1985 Assemblyman Lawrence W. Stirling, Assemblyman Gray Davis, law professor Katharine Rosenberry, management professionals, and attorneys drafted the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act. Effective January 1, 1986, this Act created one body of law by which common interest developments (i.e. HOAs) could abide.

In 2012, the Davis-Stirling Act was rewritten in order to better organize and simplify the regulations. The rewrite became effective on January 1, 2014. Today, the Stirling-Davis Act offers straightforward laws so that HOAs can avoid ambiguity, acting with intelligibility and precision.