California · Davis-Stirling Act · Chapter 3

What has to be in the packet, who pays for it, and the ten-day clock.

Every resale in a common interest development runs through this article. It names eleven documents, gives the association ten days, caps what it may charge at actual cost, and forbids the two practices that made the packet expensive: bundling and withholding.

The eleven items

§ 4525(a) puts the duty on the owner, not the association: the seller shall provide these to a prospective purchaser as soon as practicable before the transfer of title or the execution of a real property sales contract.

1. (a)(1)All governing documents — and, if the association is unincorporated, a written statement from an authorised representative saying so.
2. (a)(2)Where an age restriction differs from Civil Code § 51.3, a statement that it is enforceable only so far as § 51.3 permits.
3. (a)(3)The most recent annual disclosures under Article 7.
4. (a)(4)A true written statement from the association of current regular and special assessments and fees, and what is unpaid on the owner's interest.
5. (a)(5)Any § 5855 notice of an alleged violation still unresolved — and giving it is not a waiver of the association's right to enforce.
6. (a)(6)The initial list of construction defects under § 6000, unless the matter was settled and § 6100 complied with.
7. (a)(7)The latest information under § 6100.
8. (a)(8)Any approved change to assessments or fees that is not yet due and payable.
9. (a)(9)Where the documents prohibit renting, a statement describing the prohibition.
10. (a)(10)If the purchaser asks, the approved minutes of board meetings over the previous 12 months, excluding executive session.
11. (a)(11)The report from the most recent § 5551 balcony inspection.

Item (a)(9) is worth a second look alongside § 4741. The disclosure duty survives even where the prohibition itself does not: an association whose recorded CC&Rs still carry a rental ban has an unenforceable covenant and a statutory obligation to tell every buyer it is there.

Ten days, and no conditions

§ 4530(a)(1): on written request the association shall, within 10 days of the mailing or delivery of that request, provide the owner — or any other recipient the owner authorises — with a copy of all the requested § 4525 documents.

§ 4530(a)(2) allows the documents to be kept electronically and posted on the association's website, and gives the requesting party the option of electronic transmission where the association holds them that way.

What it may cost

§ 4530(b)(1): a reasonable fee from the seller, based on the association's actual cost of procurement, preparation, reproduction and delivery. And no additional fee for electronic delivery in place of a hard copy — which disposes of the "convenience fee" on a PDF.

Four provisions then stop the charge being hidden inside the transaction:

1. An estimate first. § 4530(b)(2): on written request, a written or electronic estimate of the fees, on the form in § 4528, before the request is processed.
2. Separately billed. § 4530(b)(4): these fees shall be distinguished from, separately stated from, and separately billed from every other fee, fine or assessment in the transfer.
3. No bundling. § 4530(b)(5): documents not expressly required by § 4525 shall not be included in the disclosure, and bundling them with other transaction documents is barred.
4. Itemised. § 4530(b)(7): the fee for each document is individually itemised in the statement the seller gives the purchaser.

§ 4530(b)(6) closes the loop in the buyer's favour: a seller shall provide the purchaser, at no cost, current copies of any § 4525 document the seller already has. There is no reason to buy from the association what is already in the seller's drawer.

Cancellation is handled in § 4530(b)(3): no cancellation fee where the order was cancelled in writing by the party who placed it and no work had been done, or where the work done was paid for; a full refund where nothing had been done; and a partial refund of the share representing work not performed.

The form itself

§ 4528 prescribes the billing disclosure form, in at least 10-point type and substantially in the shape the section sets out. It names the property, the owner, the provider of the § 4525 items, and prices each item on its own line — and it carries two sentences that are easy to miss because they sit inside the form rather than in the operative text: that the seller may give the purchaser, at no cost, copies already in the seller's possession, and that a seller may request to purchase some or all of these documents, but shall not be required to purchase ALL of them.

This is the one section on the site where the two sources diverge by more than a word. Those two passages do not appear on the independent publisher's page; they are in the official database in the 2023 publication as well as the current one. The disagreement is recorded with the section below.

Transfer fees: the general bar and its two exceptions

§ 4575: except as § 4580 provides, neither an association nor a community service organisation may impose or collect any assessment, penalty or fee in connection with a transfer of title or any other interest — other than the association's actual cost to change its records, and the amount § 4530 authorises. Two permitted charges, and nothing else.

§ 4580 exempts two narrow categories, both frozen in time: an entity established before 20 February 2003 that exists to fund or perform environmental mitigation or restore wetlands or native habitat as a written condition of development; and an entity that was established and received a transfer fee before 1 January 2004, provided that since 2006 it offers the purchaser a choice between paying at transfer and an instalment plan of not less than seven years.

What happens when the article is broken

§ 4540: a person who willfully violates this article is liable to the purchaser for actual damages and shall pay a civil penalty of up to $500; the prevailing party in an action to enforce that liability is awarded reasonable attorney's fees.

§ 4545 then limits the consequence in one sentence: nothing in the article affects the validity of title transferred in violation of it. The remedy is money, not unwinding the sale — which is why a buyer who discovers a missing disclosure after closing sues rather than rescinds.

§ 4535 is a reminder that this article is not the whole duty: an owner transferring title must also comply with Civil Code §§ 1133 and 1134.