California · Davis-Stirling Act

Campaigning in a community that controls the clubhouse.

A candidate for the board has to reach the members, and the association owns the hall, the noticeboard and often the website. Two sections decide how far it may go: one protects the way to your own front door, the other protects the campaign.

Access to your own door

§ 4510 is one sentence, and it is absolute apart from three exits. Except as otherwise provided in law, by a court order, or by a final and binding arbitration decision, an association may not deny a member or occupant physical access to their separate interest — not by restricting access through the common area to it, and not by restricting access solely to it.

Note that it protects an occupant, not only a member, so it reaches a tenant. And note the two limbs: deactivating the gate remote and changing the lock on the unit are both the same prohibited act. A delinquent assessment is not one of the three exits — collection runs through liens and the courts, not through the front gate.

What the governing documents may not prohibit

§ 4515(a) opens with the Legislature's own statement of intent: to ensure that members and residents can exercise their rights to peacefully assemble and freely communicate with one another and with others, about common interest development living or for social, political or educational purposes.

§ 4515(b) then lists six things the governing documents — including the bylaws and operating rules — shall not prohibit:

1. (b)(1)Assembling or meeting with members, residents and their invitees or guests, at reasonable hours and in a reasonable manner, for purposes relating to development living, association elections, legislation, election to public office, or the initiative, referendum or recall processes.
2. (b)(2)Inviting public officials, candidates or representatives of homeowner organisations to meet members and speak on matters of public interest.
3. (b)(3)Using the common area — the community or recreation hall or clubhouse is named — or, with that member's consent, a separate interest, for such a meeting when the facility is not otherwise in use.
4. (b)(4)Canvassing and petitioning the members, the board and residents for those activities, at reasonable hours and in a reasonable manner.
5. (b)(5)Distributing or circulating information about them without prior permission, at reasonable hours and in a reasonable manner.
6. (b)(6)Using social media or other online resources to discuss development living, association elections, legislation, public office, the initiative, referendum or recall processes, or any other issue of concern — even if the content is critical of the association or its governance.

The phrase that carries the most weight in a real dispute is without prior permission in paragraph (5). A rule requiring board approval before a candidate may circulate a flyer is not a reasonable time-and-manner restriction; it is the thing the paragraph names.

Two limits on paragraph (6), in subparagraphs (B) and (C): the association need not provide social media or online resources, and need not let members post on its own website. The protection is against being punished for speech elsewhere, not a right of access to the association's channel.

Enforcement, and the bar on retaliation

§ 4515(d): a member or resident prevented by the association or its agents from doing any of this may bring a civil or small claims action to enjoin enforcement of the offending governing document — bylaw and operating rule included — and the court may assess a civil penalty of up to $500 for each violation. Small claims matters here: it puts the remedy within reach of a member without a lawyer.

§ 4515(e) is the last line and the shortest: an association shall not retaliate against a member or resident for exercising any of these rights. A fine, a suspended privilege or a sudden rule change that follows a campaign is measured against that sentence.

This article sits directly behind the election provisions. A nominee disqualified under § 5103 appeals through the internal procedure; a nominee stopped from handing out a leaflet has a different and more direct remedy here.