California Caps HOA Fines at $100 Per Violation

Civil Code section 5850, rewritten by AB 130 effective June 30, 2025, sets a hard ceiling on monetary discipline in California common interest developments. Under subdivision (c), a board cannot fine a member more than the penalty stated in its published schedule or $100 per violation, whichever is lower. Subdivision (a) requires the board to adopt that fee schedule and hand it to every owner inside the annual policy statement mandated by section 5310; any new or increased penalty adopted later must go out in a supplement under section 4040 before it can be enforced.

Subdivision (d) lets the board exceed the $100 cap, but only when the violation could create an adverse health or safety impact on the common area or another owner's property, and only after the board makes a written finding describing that impact at a meeting open to the membership. Subdivision (e) bars any late fee or interest charge on a disciplinary penalty, and subdivision (f) requires the association to hand any member a copy of the current schedule on request. Process matters as much as the cap.

Section 5855 requires at least 10 days' written notice before the board meets to discipline a member, stating the date, time, place, the alleged violation, and the member's right to attend and speak, in executive session if the member asks. The member gets a chance to cure before that meeting; if curing takes longer than the notice period, a financial commitment to cure blocks discipline too. The board must send written notice of its decision within 14 days of acting, and discipline that skips any of these steps is not enforceable against the member.

Finally, section 5725(b) blocks associations from treating an unpaid disciplinary fine as an assessment lien foreclosable under sections 2924, 2924b and 2924c; only a charge to reimburse the association for common-area damage repair can become that kind of lien, and only if the governing documents say so.

A board that fines above $100 without the required health-or-safety finding, skips the 10-day notice, or refuses a member's cure offer cannot enforce the penalty; section 5855(g) makes noncompliant discipline void against the member. Boards that charge late fees or interest on a fine violate subdivision (e) outright. Because an unpaid fine can never become a foreclosure lien under section 5725(b), associations that try to collect it that way are acting outside their authority and can be challenged through internal dispute resolution under section 5910.