Five mistakes self-managed HOA boards make under AB 130

Notice Cure team

A management company runs this process dozens of times a month and has staff who know where it goes wrong. A volunteer board runs it a handful of times a year. These are the mistakes that show up most often.

1. Setting the hearing too soon

The hearing can't be scheduled for fewer than 10 days after the notice goes out. Boards in a hurry to resolve a violation sometimes set the date from when the notice was drafted rather than when it was actually sent — which can land the hearing inside the 10-day window without anyone noticing until it's challenged.

2. Treating the cure period as a formality

If an owner fixes the violation, or commits to fixing it with a contract or deposit, before the hearing, the fine option is gone. Boards that hold the hearing and vote on a fine without first checking whether the violation was actually cured are skipping the part of the process AB 130 was written around.

3. Fining above $100 without a documented finding

The health-or-safety exception requires a written finding made at an open board meeting — not a board member's judgment call applied after the fact to justify a higher fine.

4. Missing the 14-day decision window

It's easy for a decision to slip when a board only meets monthly. If the hearing and the next regular meeting are more than two weeks apart, the board needs a way to issue the decision outside its normal meeting cadence.

5. No consistent record across cases

A board that handles each violation in its own email thread or paper file has no way to show a consistent process when it matters — during a sale, an owner dispute, or a board transition. The same four dates (notice sent, cure status, fine basis, decision sent) should be tracked the same way on every case.