Selling a House in Homeowners' Association

Be prepared for buyers to request lots of paperwork related to your homeowners’ association. Here are some of the key items you’ll need to provide buyers:

• 1. Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) and related documents, such as bylaws, rules, and regulations of your homeowners’ association
• 2. any special restrictions affecting properties in your association, such as parking, pets, or rental of the unit
• 3. recent association financial statements and budgets
• 4. the amount and use of monthly association and maintenance fees
• 5. current and planned special assessments against the property for projects benefiting all homes in the association
• 6. certification that any improvements you made to your home were approved by the association, and
• 7. the association’s master insurance policy,

To save your time and energy searching for papers at the last minute, ask your real estate broker early on what homeowners’ association documents and materials you will need to provide buyers. These are typically spelled out in the standard contracts real estate agents use for the purchase of a house in a homeowners’ association.  If you keep good records (and have a well-run homeowners’ association), you may already have much of the paperwork you need in your files.

See the Nolo article Organizing Paperwork for Your Home Sale for more on getting organized.