Is it legal for association to make us keep lights on?
you bought into your condo? As I often write, condominium living is democracy at its best and at its worst.
You admit that security is important, and every condominium board has the legal authority — and the obligation — to assure the neighborhood is safe. There is an old California case in which the board turned off common area lights, presumably to save money, and the evening they were turned off a resident was assaulted. She won her case, hands down.
The lights are clearly disturbing, but since the board has the legal authority to manage and control common elements, you have to abide by its rules. You cannot opt out.
Most association boards are protected by what is known as the business judgment rule; namely, a court will not second-guess a board decision — even if it is wrong — unless that decision was somehow against public policy or was totally illegal.
I discussed this question with some association attorneys from around the country. One attorney told me that her association did the same thing as yours; however, they put some kind of umbrella over the lights so the beams point down.
If you can’t reach some kind of resolution with your board, you really have only two choices: Sell your unit and move out or buy window blinds, assuming, of course, this is permitted in your association.
A: Kudos to the National Association of Realtors for its extensive lobbying of Congress on behalf of U.S. homeowners. Although earlier versions of the tax bill would have changed the “two out of five”-year residency rule to five out of eight years, there is no change in the final tax bill that the president signed.
Accordingly, if you have owned and lived in the house for two out of the five years before it is sold, you can exclude up to $500,000 if you file a joint tax return or up to $250,000 if you file a single tax return. These are known as the ownership and use tests.