One of the main reasons I love practicing common interest community law is its newness. Compare condominium law to, say, contract law, which can be linked thousands of years all the way back to the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (est. 1792-95 BC). Or what about Normative or English Common Law, that also trace back centuries? read more

Reaching the end of the contentious and hotly contested national election was no doubt a relief for many of us. However, for our community association clients, there is no rest for the weary because late winter and spring is association annual meeting season! read more

Recently, the Division 1 Court of Appeals of Washington issued its opinion in the case of Viewcrest Condominium Association v. Robertson, 2016 WL 7470025 (December 27, 2016). The decision by the Court in Viewcrest will need to be considered when evaluating collection of delinquent condominium assessments in Washington. read more

In part one of our three-part series on Tree Trouble, my colleague David Silver wrote about Timber Trespass. In this post, I'm going to discuss self-help. Self-help is the legal term that describes "taking the law into your own hands"—literally. In this context, it would include a property owner getting out their pruning shears or shovel and cutting or trimming parts of a neighbor's tree that infringe upon his or her property. You may be surprised to hear that in Washington, such conduct has been endorsed by the courts. read more

One aspect of real property law that I find interesting is how some of the nastiest legal disputes are between neighboring property owners. On one hand, it would seem incumbent upon neighbors to be friendly and cooperative to one another because they are forced to interact regularly. On the other hand, the likelihood, or at least opportunity, for disputes seems to increase proportionately the closer people live to one another. read more