Why Hire Association Mediation Services?

The California Civil Code requires homeowners associations and members to try to resolve association or member violations of the governing documents by Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) before filing a civil enforcement lawsuit. If the association or member fails to follow the statutory ADR procedures, a court can dismiss any enforcement lawsuit or consider the failure to follow the ADR procedures in deciding whether to award attorney fees to the party who wins the lawsuit. 

Mediation is a preferred form of ADR because a skilled mediator educates both the association and member of the strengths and weaknesses of their case. Understanding the weaknesses of their case is probably the single most important factor  influencing the settlement of a case at the mediation level rather than risk losing if a lawsuit is filed and incurring the fees of BOTH their own attorney and the other party's as well.

Although the Civil Code provides the cost of the ADR “shall be borne by the parties”,  the high cost (typically $5,000 and up per day) of skilled mediators who understand associations usually prevents the mediation of all but the most blatant and visible violations. The result is many of the less blatant/visible  violations are not addressed because of the high expense of ADR.  Unfortunately, this approach creates enforcement problems  for associations because addressing only the most blatant violations means the association is selectively enforcing the provisions of its governing documents. Selective enforcement  is a valid defense to an association's enforcement lawsuit because it places members in the position of not knowing what provisions of the CC&Rs the board will actually enforce.

An alternative to the high cost of HOA mediations is being offered by Association Mediation Services, which charges a more affordable rate.

AMS also provides group meeting facilitation services that enable homeowners' associations to more effectively accomplish their mission. These services include facilitation of contentious HOA meetings as well as leadership-focused sessions addressing such topics as workplan development, long-term strategic planning, and making meetings more efficient. Training services include skills-building sessions for property management professionals understanding and managing different conflict styles, de-escalation techniques,  and other proven tactics and strategies for reducing tension while successfully resolving contentious issues.