Manager Licensure - SB 1367/AB 2908 provides for
the licensing of common interest community managers and establishes the Common
Interest Community Manager Board within the Department of Community Affairs to
oversee their licensure. The board, to
be appointed by the Governor, is to consist of nine members as follows: six
licensed common interest community managers, except for those managers first
appointed; two public members; and one member from a department in the
Executive Branch of State Government.
As of the beginning of 2015, the bill has been
released from committee in the Senate and remains pending before the Assembly
Regulated Professions Committee while CAI NJ negotiates the anticipated cost of
a licensure program with the Administration.
Fines for Failure to Maintain Vacant
Properties-SB1229 authorizes municipalities to regulate the maintenance of
vacant residential properties that are under foreclosure, and issue citations
against creditors if those properties if their conditions are found to be in
violation. It also requires out-of-state
creditors to designate an in-state person or entity responsible for the care,
maintenance, and upkeep of the property. The bill was signed into law by
Governor Christie. With this new protection in place, CAI NJ is considering
ways to help member communities encourage their municipalities to enact such
ordinances.
Foreclosure Reform - AB 3793/ SB2545 concerns
expedited process for foreclosing vacant and abandoned residential properties
in uncontested actions. These bills amend the 2012 law that which provides an
expedited process for residential mortgage lenders to foreclose vacant and
abandoned residential properties. CAI NJ is working with the Sponsor to ensure
that lenders can be compelled to either use this process or be responsible for
the maintenance of properties and association fees, while applying the same
remedies to uncontested foreclosures generally. The bills are pending
consideration.
Inspection Fees - N.J.A.C. 5:10-1.12-Establishes
fees for five year inspections conducted by Department of Community Affairs.
This new rule adoption increases fees by a factor of 27.35%, rounding up to the
next whole dollar increment. The result is estimated to be an increase of
potentially over 30% for many of our member communities, which faced an
increase of 19% during the previous Administration. The rules were adopted
without changes to the June 2 proposal despite the efforts of CAINJ and the New
Jersey Apartments Association to mitigate the dramatic increase.
Community Association Reform-CAI NJ is working
with legislators in both houses to introduce, on a piecemeal basis, elements of
the earlier reform efforts known as the CARA. Bills with provisions we hope to
improve include:
AB 469 concerns membership and management of
homeowners associations. Its provisions include the assignment of title of
common elements to an association and the even division thereof amongst unit
owners; uniform priority assigned to the rights of unit owners in a common
interest community (including, but not limited to reasonable inspection of
business and financial records); procedures for the adoption and amendment of
bylaws; and the election and recall of members of an association board.
SB 1938 “Owners’ Rights and Obligations in Shared
Ownership Communities Act.” Which would implement the over 30 recommendations
of the Assembly Task Force to Study Homeowners’ Associations nearly twenty
years ago.