A California woman was threatened with a $500-per-day fine from her homeowners’ association after daring to fix a door inside her home.
Jinah Kim, 53, of Oak Park in Ventura County, was stunned when she was hit with a violation for repairing a doorway in her condo in the Shadow Ridge complex, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The complex’s snooping manager discovered the work after peering through her open garage door.
The homeowners’ association accused Kim of rerouting shared plumbing lines during her effort to clear a blockage in the doorway between her office and dining room.
She was immediately fined $100 and ordered to return the door to its original condition. She was warned that failure to do so would trigger a daily fine of $500 until the issue was resolved.
‘It’s a door within my home that no one else sees and no one else is affected by,’ Kim told the Times.
‘It felt like accidently tapping someone in the hallway and getting the death penalty,’ she added.
However, a new rule limiting HOA fines to $100 per violation unless there are health or safety concerns took effect in the state on July 1, sparing her from having to pay up to $3,500 per week for refusing to undo the renovation.
Jinah Kim (pictured), 53, of Oak Park in Ventura County, California, was threatened with a $500-per-day fine from her homeowners’ association after daring to fix a door inside her home
The homeowners’ association accused Kim of rerouting shared plumbing lines during her effort to clear a blockage in the doorway between her office and dining room in her condo in the Shadow Ridge complex (pictured)
‘It was a big relief,’ Kim said. ‘Having a daily $500 fine hanging over my head was a huge source of anxiety.’
In an effort to conceal exposed plumbing pipes, the previous owners of the two-bedroom, three-bathroom townhouse filled the top of the doorway with drywall, ultimately creating a barrier.
Frustrated by having to duck under the blockage every time she moved between the two rooms, Kim decided to formally request the HOA’s approval to have it fixed.
Her request was denied, with the association raising concerns that the work would require temporarily shutting off shared water and tampering with pipes.
She decided to move forward with the hourlong fix, hiring a contractor to get the job done.
Shadow Ridge’s general manager caught sight of the renovation just a few months later.
The next day, she was hit with a barrage of violations – one for the door, one for installing an EV charger in her garage, one for having her dog off-leash and one for having an unapproved rug on her balcony.
While she resolved the other violations without issue, she stood her ground on the door – refusing to restore it to what she viewed as an impractical and inefficient design.
The complex’s snooping manager discovered the unauthorized renovation after peering through her open garage door (pictured: Kim’s neighborhood)
A new rule limiting HOA fines to $100 per violation unless there are health or safety concerns took effect in the state on July 1, sparing Kim from having to pay up to $3,500 per week for refusing to undo the renovation (pictured: the complex)
A letter arrived on June 27, repeating the accusation that she had messed with shared plumbing lines. In it, she was warned that the HOA was ready to start hitting her with $500 fines every single day.
But her nightmare ended on July 1, when Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 130 (AB 130) into law – a hotly debated reform hailed as a win for homeowners and a major blow to the power of HOAs.
While the main goal of the new law is to speed up housing projects by relaxing some environmental rules, it also makes changes to the Davis-Stirling Act – the set of laws that govern how HOAs operate in California.
The most significant change is the $100 cap on HOA fines. The bill also stops HOAs from charging interest or late fees on violations, and, as long as homeowners fix problems before a hearing, they can’t be punished.
Dyanne Peters, an attorney who practices HOA law, admitted that no one likes paying fines, but explained that HOAs don’t use them to make money.
She said that fines are meant to discourage behavior that disrupts the community.
‘It’s frustrating because these new rules are handcuffing homeowners associations,’ Peters told the Times.
‘It takes away the ability for HOAs to govern their own communities. Clients are calling us asking, “What’s the point?”‘
Luke Carlson, an attorney who helps homeowners with HOA disputes, called the new law ‘long overdue.’
‘AB 130 is more than a law – it’s a signal that Sacramento is finally starting to hear the voices of homeowners who’ve suffered in silence for too long,’ Carlson told the Times.
‘Everyone agrees bad HOAs are a bad thing, and it takes legislative reform to stop them.’
