Bill Summaries: H920 (2019-2020 Session)

Tracking:
  • Summary date: Jul 2 2020 - View summary

    AN ACT TO MAKE VARIOUS CHANGES TO THE STATUTES GOVERNING CONDOMINIUMS AND CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATIONS. SL 2020-52. Enacted June 30, 2020. Section 3(b) is effective October 1, 2020. The remainder is effective June 30, 2020.


  • Summary date: Jun 22 2020 - View summary

    Senate amendment makes the following changes to the 2nd edition.

    Postpones the effective date of Section 3(b) of the act, which enacts GS 47C-2-117.1, Judicial reformation of declaration, until October 1, 2020, applicable to actions filed on or after that date (was, effective on the date the act becomes law).


  • Summary date: Jun 18 2019 - View summary

    Senate committee substitute makes the following changes to the 1st edition.

    Revises the new language in GS 47C-2-109(b)(6) to require plats and plans to include a licensed architect's verified statement to depict locations and dimensions of horizontally limiting boundaries of each unit, rather than vertical boundaries, and include the location of any vertically limiting boundaries, rather than horizontal unit boundaries. Makes clarifying changes and expands on the required certification of a licensed professional surveyor required to be included with plats and plans. Deletes subdivision (1) and (2) of subsection (e) relating to requirements for recording plats and plans prepared under subsection (b), as amended, replacing it with a requirement that they must comply with G.S. 47-30 and with G.S. 47-30(b) or 47-30(o). Adds a new subsection (g) requiring the provisions of the Article and condominium instruments recorded pursuant thereto to be liberally construed in favor of the valid establishment of a condominium with respect to the submitted property.

    Adds to GS 47C-2-105(a), regarding required content of a condominium declaration. Now allows a declaration to define a unit to include all or any portion of the airspace or subterranean space between two legally identifiable elevations, to include or exclude the surface of a legally described parcel of real property, to include or exclude airspace lying above and subterranean space lying below such surface, and to mean any specified combination of the foregoing, whether or not contiguous. Amends the proposed changes to subsection (8) providing that the time to exercise a right is seven years from the date the declaration was recorded or by October 1, 2020, whichever is later (previously set at seven years). Also provides that an extension of a development right or special declarant right is effective upon recording of an amendment to the declaration approved by the unit owners as provided in this subdivision, but the amendment must be recorded prior to the expiration of the development right or special declarant right affected by such amendment. Allows execution of the amendment to be evidenced by execution of the amendment by the requisite number of unit owners or by certification of an officer of the association executing such amendment confirming that the requisite number of unit owners approved such amendment at a duly called meeting of the unit owners. Makes conforming changes to GS 47C-2-117.

    Modifies the proposed changes to GS 47C-2-117(b), adding that authority granted to the executive board under subsection (f), as amended, does not limit the authority of the executive board to propose any amendment for any other purpose permitted in the declaration or by the Chapter. Upon approval by the executive board of an amendment pursuant to this subsection, requires the executive board to set a date for a meeting of the unit owners to consider ratification of the amendment not less than 10 nor more than 60 days after mailing of notice of such meeting, including a copy or summary of the proposed amendment. Prohibits requiring a quorum to be present at the meeting. Deems the amendment ratified by the unit owners unless at that meeting unit owners holding a majority of the votes in the association reject the amendment.

    Amends proposed GS 47C-2-117 by changing jurisdiction for reformation of a declaration from the clerk of superior court to the superior court, and makes conforming changes for the process. Also changes terminology to refer to a "complaint" rather than a "petition" throughout. Details further requirements and effect of filed complaints. Sets a one year statute of limitations on collateral actions contesting a judgment ordering reformation or correction, excluding actions for damages sustained as a result of the reformation or correction.

    Amends GS 47C-2-101(b) setting forth requirements for the certificate by a licensed architect or engineer for condominum creation declarations, the same as those provided in GS 47C-2-105(a)(5).

    Amends GS 47C-2-114, changing the title of the statute from “Easement for encroachments” to “Monuments as boundaries” and replaces subsection (a). Now deems the existing physical boundaries of a unit or the physical boundaries of a unit reconstructed in substantial accordance with the description contained in the original declaration to be its legal boundaries, rather than the boundaries derived from the description contained in the original declaration, regardless of vertical or lateral movement of the building or minor variance between those boundaries and the boundaries derived from the description contained in the original declaration. Maintains a unit owner's liability for willful misconduct and a declarant or any other person's liability for failure to adhere to any plats and plans or, in a cooperative, for failure to adhere to any representation in the public offering statement.

    Enacts GS 47C-1-110 to deem the title to any unit constructed and deeded to a declarant for at least four years without legal challenge marketable in all instances where a declarant intended to establish on the declarant's property a condominium pursuant to the Chapter, as established by the recording of a declaration, plats, and plans, and by the subsequent recording of a deed or deeds intending to convey any unit or units, but failed to substantially comply with this chapter due to defects in the drafting, execution, or recording of the declaration, plats, or plans.

    Amends GS 47C-3-103(a) to require officers to act according to the standards for officers of a nonprofit corporation as set out in GS 55-8-42 and to require members to act according to the standards for directors of a nonprofit corporation set out in GS 55A-8-30. Replaces the 67% requirement in subdivision (b) for removing a member, with a majority. Changes the time frames for setting a meeting to ratify the budget from no less than 10 or more than 60 days after mailing the budget summary (was, no less than 14 nor more than 30 days).

    Amends GS 47C-3-108(a) regarding condominium association meetings, changing the time frame for providing notice meetings to allow notice no more than 60 days in advance, rather than no more than 50 days in advance.

    Adds a new subsection to GS 47C-3-109, providing that if there is not a quorum, the association meeting may be adjourned by a majority of those present or by proxy. Provides that the quorum at the next meetings will be one-half of the last meeting that lacked a quorum, repeating until there is enough for a quorum.

    Amends GS 47C-3-115(e), regarding assessments by an association for common expense, to add occupant misconduct to the provision.

    Changes the act's long title.


  • Summary date: Apr 22 2019 - View summary

    Amends GS 47C-2-109 to no longer require each condominium plat or plan to contain a certification by a licensed architect or a registered engineer that contains the required information; now that information is to be shown in each plat or plan. Amends the items that each plat or plan must show to instead include a certified statement of a licensed architect or registered engineer certifying that the plat or plans depict (1) locations and dimensions of the vertical boundaries of each unit, to the extent those boundaries lie within or coincide with the boundaries of the building in which the unit is located; (2) the location of any horizontal unit boundaries, with reference to established datum; and (3) an identifying number for each unit. Makes additional clarifying and technical changes.

    Amends GS 47C-2-105, which sets out the items that must be included in the declaration for a condominium. One item is a description of any development rights and other special declarant rights reserved by the declarant, with a description of the real estate to which each of those rights applies, and a time limit within or date by which (was, a time limit by which) each of those rights must be exercised. Adds that if no time limit or date is specified, the time limit for the exercise of any development right or other special declarant right is seven years from the date the declaration was recorded. Provides that if the declaration so provides, the unit owners of units to which at last 67% of the votes in the association are allocated may consent to an extension, not exceeding 10 years; requires the extension to occur within one year before the date upon which the time limit would otherwise have expired. Makes additional technical changes. 

    Amends GS 47C-2-117, concerning amending a declaration, by adding that the provisions of the Article and recorded condominium instruments are to be liberally construed in favor of the valid establishment of a condominium with respect to the submitted property. Provides that if any amendment to the declaration is necessary in the executive board's judgement, then the board may seek approval to amend the declaration for any of four specified purposes, including to make a reasonable accommodation or permit a reasonable modification in favor of a person with disabilities. Specifies that any such amendment recorded in the office of the register of deeds in the county where the condominium is located operate as a correction of the declaration and is effective as of the date the declaration being corrected was originally recorded with the same effect as if the declaration were correct when it was first recorded. 

    Enacts new GS 47C-2-117.1 allowing a unit owners' association to petition the clerk of superior court to resolve ambiguities, errors, or inconsistencies in the condominium instruments that are the source of legal and other disputes pertaining to the legal rights and responsibilities of the unit owners' association or individual unit owner. Also allows the instruments to be reformed to correct scrivener's errors. Sets out the superior court's jurisdiction over these matters.

    Sets out five requirements that must be met when filing a petition with the court setting forth any inconsistency or error made in the condominium instruments, including sending a copy of the petition at least 30 days before it is filed to all unit owners and all beneficiaries of a deed of trust or mortgagees of record for a unit in the condominium. 

    Sets out the procedure under which a person served with the petition may object to or dispute the petition. Gives any unit owner or beneficiary of a deed of trust or mortgagee of a condominium unit in the condominium objecting or disputing the petition standing to participate in the reformation proceedings.