Do HOA's in California have a fiduciary responsibility to inform home owners of decision to change the paint colors for Townhome complexes?

Mr. Brisgel, First, you should have a real estate attorney familiar with CC&Rs and the Davis-Stirling Act, study your CC&Rs. If you have any rights, they are there. You probably don't, but you should have a lawyer check, especially the Article on design review. Unless there is something very specific in the CC&Rs, the law gives HOA Boards very broad discretion to make decisions like maintenance and painting. Your only recourse may be to recall the current board and elect a new board, get the new board to repaint, and probably enact a special assessment to pay for it. Your HOA's reserve budget is very tight and specific. There isn't money for repainting.  Unless there is something very strong and special in your CC&Rs, which the HOA Board breached, it is very unlikely that the HOA can get the money for the repainting back from the current Board. If you decide to attempt a recall election, please hire an attorney to show you how to conduct it. The Davis-Stirling Act and the Mutual Benefit Corporation Law include very detailed procedures for such elections. Unless your CC&Rs are very up-to-date, they probably do not contain all the current requirements for a valid recall election and election of substitute directors. The process is not difficult. It's just very detailed and specific, and it is probably different than you would ordinarily expect. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack