HOA Amendment of CC&Rs Restricting Owner Rental Rights was Valid

This case involved a dispute between a homeowner (“Owner”) and a homeowners’ association (“Association”) over the enforceability of an amendment to the Association’s CC&Rs that imposed a restriction on homeowners’ rights to rent their units. When Owner purchased his unit the CC&Rs contained a “use” restriction which provided that “each lot shall be used for single family residential purposes only, on an ownership, rental or lease basis.” The CC&Rs also contained a provision which allowed for future amendments to the CC&Rs that were approved by not less than 90% of the homeowners. Owner purchased his property in 2003, and there were no issues relative to his renting of the property for short terms until 2012, when he began renting his property for short periods of time as a vacation property. The short-term rentals precipitated complaints from other homeowners about the renters’ conduct which involved misappropriation of produce from another owner’s garden, excessive noise, and parking violations. When efforts by the Association to resolve the issues with Owner proved unsuccessful, in 2013 the Association passed an amendment that changed the permitted use provisions in the CC&Rs. The amendment imposed the following restrictions on rentals: