HIERARCHY OF GOVERNING DOCUMENTS

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Gov Docs	Bylaws & Articles
CC&Rs	Rules & Regs

Gov Docs Hierarchy

Proper Terminology

Rules of Interpretation

Liberally Construed

Governing Documents

HOA Governing Documents

The term "governing documents," as defined in Civil Code § 4150, refers to documents that govern a common interest development. Following is a list of governing documents:

	Condos	PDs	Co-ops
Architectural Guidelines	x	x	x
Articles of Incorporation	x	x	x
Bylaws	x	x	x
CC&Rs	x	x
Collection Policy	x	x	x
Condominium Plan	x
Election Rules	x	x	x
IDR Policy	x	x	x
Rules & Regulations	x	x	x
Proprietary Lease			x
Tract Map		x

Hierarchy of Governing Documents

Common interest developments have a number of documents controlling the development. Sometimes, there are conflicts between documents. As provided for in Civil Code § 4205 (effective January 1, 2014), such conflicts are resolved as follows:

Law (unless the particular statute defers to governing documents)
CC&Rs
Articles of Incorporation
Bylaws
Operating Rules. The exception to Rules being in last place is that Election Rules, a form of Operating Rules (Civ. Code § 5105(a)), adopted pursuant to Senate Bill 323 (effective January 1, 2020), may contain provisions that supersede Bylaws and CC&Rs.

Resolving Internal Conflicts

Conflicts between provisions in the same document can often be resolved by applying general rules of interpretation.

ASSISTANCE: To amend or restate governing documents, contact us for more information. To stay current with community association issues, subscribe to the Davis-Stirling Newsletter.