Table of contents
RCW 64.90.370. Election of preexisting common interest communities, plat communities, miscellaneous communities.
(1) The declaration of any common interest community created before July 1, 2018, or of a plat community or miscellaneous community described in RCW 64.90.360(4) may be amended to:
(a) Provide that all the sections listed in RCW 64.90.365(1) apply to the common interest community; or
(b) Provide that this chapter will apply to the common interest community, regardless of what applicable law provided before chapter 277, Laws of 2018 was adopted.
(2) Except as provided otherwise in subsection (3) of this section or in RCW 64.90.285 (8), (9), or (10), an amendment under this section to the governing documents of a common interest community created before July 1, 2018, must be adopted in conformity with any procedures and requirements for amending the instruments specified by those instruments and in conformity with the amendment procedures of this chapter. If the governing documents do not contain provisions authorizing amendment, the amendment procedures of this chapter apply. If an amendment grants to a person a right, power, or privilege permitted under this chapter, any correlative obligation, liability, or restriction in this chapter also applies to the person.
(3) Notwithstanding any provision in the governing documents of a common interest community that govern the procedures and requirements for amending the governing documents, an amendment under subsection (1) of this section may be made as follows:
(a) The board shall propose such amendment to the owners if the board deems it appropriate or if owners holding 20 percent or more of the votes in the association request such an amendment in writing to the board;
(b) Upon satisfaction of the foregoing requirements, the board shall prepare a proposed amendment and shall provide the owners with a notice in a record containing the proposed amendment and at least 30 days’ advance notice of a meeting to discuss the proposed amendment;
(c) Following such meeting, the board shall provide the owners with a notice in a record containing the proposed amendment and a ballot to approve or reject the amendment;
(d) The amendment shall be deemed approved if owners holding at least 30 percent of the votes in the association participate in the voting process, and at least 67 percent of the votes cast by participating owners are in favor of the proposed amendment.
RCW 64.90.405. Powers and duties.
(1) An association must:
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(b) Adopt budgets as provided in RCW 64.90.525;
(c) Impose assessments for common expenses and specially allocated expenses on the unit owners as provided in RCW 64.90.480(1) and 64.90.525;
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RCW 64.90.525. Budgets—Assessments—Special assessments.
(1)(a) Within thirty days after adoption of any proposed budget for the common interest community, the board must provide a copy of the budget to all the unit owners and set a date for a meeting of the unit owners to consider ratification of the budget not less than fourteen nor more than fifty days after providing the budget. Unless at that meeting the unit owners of units to which a majority of the votes in the association are allocated or any larger percentage specified in the declaration reject the budget, the budget and the assessments against the units included in the budget are ratified, whether or not a quorum is present.
(b) If the proposed budget is rejected or the required notice is not given, the periodic budget last ratified by the unit owners continues until the unit owners ratify a subsequent budget proposed by the board.
(2) The budget must include:
(a) The projected income to the association by category;
(b) The projected common expenses and those specially allocated expenses that are subject to being budgeted, both by category;
(c) The amount of the assessments per unit and the date the assessments are due;
(d) The current amount of regular assessments budgeted for contribution to the reserve account;
(e) A statement of whether the association has a reserve study that meets the requirements of RCW 64.90.550 and, if so, the extent to which the budget meets or deviates from the recommendations of that reserve study; and
(f) The current deficiency or surplus in reserve funding expressed on a per unit basis.
(3) The board, at any time, may propose a special assessment. The assessment is effective only if the board follows the procedures for ratification of a budget described in subsection (1) of this section and the unit owners do not reject the proposed assessment. The board may provide that the special assessment may be due and payable in installments over any period it determines and may provide a discount for early payment.
RCW 64.90.545. Reserve study.
(1) Unless exempt under subsection (2) of this section, an association must prepare and update a reserve study in accordance with this chapter. An initial reserve study must be prepared by a reserve study professional and based upon either a reserve study professional’s visual site inspection of completed improvements or a review of plans and specifications of or for unbuilt improvements, or both when construction of some but not all of the improvements is complete. An updated reserve study must be prepared annually. An updated reserve study must be prepared at least every third year by a reserve study professional and based upon a visual site inspection conducted by the reserve study professional.
(2) Unless the governing documents require otherwise, subsection (1) of this section does not apply (a) to common interest communities containing units that are restricted in the declaration to nonresidential use, (b) to common interest communities that have only nominal reserve costs, or (c) when the cost of the reserve study or update exceeds ten percent of the association’s annual budget.
(3) The governing documents may impose greater requirements on the board.