Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: California caps board-only special assessments at 5 percent of the association’s annual budgeted gross expenses; above that, a majority vote of a quorum of members is required.
Key statute: Cal. Civ. Code §§ 5605, 5610, 5615, 5550, 5650, 5720 (Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act)
How California lets an association approve it
California is more restrictive and numerically precise than the Uniform Act states. Under Civ. Code § 5605, no membership vote is required for a special assessment that, alone or combined with other special assessments levied that fiscal year, does not exceed “5 percent of the budgeted gross expenses of the association for that fiscal year.” Above that 5% figure, the assessment requires “the approval of a majority of a quorum of members” under Section 4070. Civ. Code § 5610 also lets the board impose assessments beyond these caps without any member vote in three emergency circumstances: a court-ordered extraordinary expense, a threat to health or safety or other hazardous condition, or an unforeseen extraordinary expense the board “could not have reasonably foreseen” when preparing the annual budget. For that third category, the board must “pass a resolution containing written findings as to the necessity of the extraordinary expense.”
The notice you’re owed
Under Civ. Code § 5615, the association “shall provide individual notice pursuant to Section 4040” of any increase in regular or special assessments “not less than 30 nor more than 60 days prior to the increased assessment becoming due.”
Paying it: plan, interest, and late fees
California’s statute does not address a general right to pay a special assessment in installments; that is left to your association’s declaration and bylaws, and Civ. Code § 5650, which covers delinquency, late charges, and interest, contains no installment-payment mandate. A widely repeated claim that owners have a statutory right to pay special assessments over $1,800 in installments is a misreading: that $1,800 figure actually comes from Civ. Code § 5720, which sets a floor below which an association may not use judicial or nonjudicial foreclosure at all. It is a limit on collection methods, not an installment right. On interest and late fees, Civ. Code § 5650(b) allows a late charge “not exceeding 10 percent of the delinquent assessment or ten dollars ($10)” (whichever is greater, unless the declaration sets a smaller amount), plus interest “at an annual interest rate not to exceed 12 percent, commencing 30 days after the assessment becomes due,” unless the declaration sets a lower rate.
Under Civ. Code § 5720, an association may not use judicial or nonjudicial foreclosure to collect delinquent regular or special assessments under $1,800 unless the delinquency exceeds 12 months, subject to limited exceptions for timeshares and developers.
Does California require a reserve study?
Yes, but it is not California’s version of a Surfside or SIRS-style structural law; it is a long-standing general reserve-funding statute. Under Civ. Code § 5550, “At least once every three years, the board shall cause to be conducted a reasonably competent and diligent visual inspection” of the components the association must maintain, along with a written reserve study that identifies major components, estimates repair and replacement costs, and sets out “a reserve funding plan.” This is a funding-adequacy and disclosure requirement, not an engineer-certified structural-integrity inspection mandate like Florida’s post-Surfside law, and the two should not be confused.
Honest gaps
All figures on this page were confirmed directly from California’s own official legislative website; every section cited here was read from the state’s own portal rather than a mirror.
Source note. Read from https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV§ionNum=5605. ; https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV§ionNum=5610. ; https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV§ionNum=5615. ; https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV§ionNum=5550. ; https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV§ionNum=5650. ; https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV§ionNum=5720. on September 4, 2026.
Related: HOA rules in a 55+ community · how a special-assessment foreclosure actually works · lump sum vs. a payment plan.
General information drawn from each state’s own statutes as read at its official legislature or code-publisher site (or a verbatim codified mirror where noted), not legal advice. Special-assessment law is state law, and every association’s own declaration and bylaws add rules on top of the statutory floor described here. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice.