BILL REQ. #:  S-3703.1 

Read first time 01/21/14.   Referred to Committee on Financial Institutions, Housing & Insurance.

     AN ACT Relating to the definition of residential real property in homeowners' associations; reenacting and amending RCW 64.38.010; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 64.38.010 and 2011 c 189 s 7 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
     For purposes of this chapter:
     (1) "Assessment" means all sums chargeable to an owner by an association in accordance with RCW 64.38.020.
     (2) "Baseline funding plan" means establishing a reserve funding goal of maintaining a reserve account balance above zero dollars throughout the thirty-year study period described under RCW 64.38.065.
     (3) "Board of directors" or "board" means the body, regardless of name, with primary authority to manage the affairs of the association.
     (4) "Common areas" means property owned, or otherwise maintained, repaired or administered by the association.
     (5) "Common expense" means the costs incurred by the association to exercise any of the powers provided for in this chapter.
     (6) "Contribution rate" means, in a reserve study as described in RCW ((64.34.380)) 64.38.065, the amount contributed to the reserve account so that the association will have cash reserves to pay major maintenance, repair, or replacement costs without the need of a special assessment.
     (7) "Effective age" means the difference between the estimated useful life and remaining useful life.
     (8) "Full funding plan" means setting a reserve funding goal of achieving one hundred percent fully funded reserves by the end of the thirty-year study period described under RCW 64.38.065, in which the reserve account balance equals the sum of the deteriorated portion of all reserve components.
     (9) "Fully funded balance" means the current value of the deteriorated portion, not the total replacement value, of all the reserve components. The fully funded balance for each reserve component is calculated by multiplying the current replacement cost of the reserve component by its effective age, then dividing the result by the reserve component's useful life. The sum total of all reserve components' fully funded balances is the association's fully funded balance.
     (10) "Governing documents" means the articles of incorporation, bylaws, plat, declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions, rules and regulations of the association, or other written instrument by which the association has the authority to exercise any of the powers provided for in this chapter or to manage, maintain, or otherwise affect the property under its jurisdiction.
     (11) "Homeowners' association" or "association" means a corporation, unincorporated association, or other legal entity, each member of which is an owner of residential real property located within the association's jurisdiction, as described in the governing documents, and by virtue of membership or ownership of property is obligated to pay real property taxes, insurance premiums, maintenance costs, or for improvement of real property other than that which is owned by the member. "Homeowners' association" does not mean an association created under chapter 64.32 or 64.34 RCW.
     (12) "Lot" means a physical portion of the real property located within an association's jurisdiction designated for separate ownership.
     (13) "Owner" means the owner of a lot, but does not include a person who has an interest in a lot solely as security for an obligation. "Owner" also means the vendee, not the vendor, of a lot under a real estate contract.
     (14) "Remaining useful life" means the estimated time, in years, before a reserve component will require major maintenance, repair, or replacement to perform its intended function.
     (15) "Replacement cost" means the current cost of replacing, repairing, or restoring a reserve component to its original functional condition.
     (16) "Reserve component" means a common element whose cost of maintenance, repair, or replacement is infrequent, significant, and impractical to include in an annual budget.
     (17) "Reserve study professional" means an independent person who is suitably qualified by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education to prepare a reserve study in accordance with RCW ((64.34.380 and 64.34.382)) 64.38.065 and 64.38.070.
     (18) "Residential real property" means any real property, the use of which is limited by law, covenant or otherwise to primarily residential or recreational purposes. However, a marina slip that is incorporated as its own community association, such as, but not limited to, a separate condominium association, is not considered "residential real property" for the purposes of this chapter.
     (19) "Significant assets" means that the current replacement value of the major reserve components is seventy-five percent or more of the gross budget of the association, excluding the association's reserve account funds.
     (20) "Useful life" means the estimated time, between years, that major maintenance, repair, or replacement is estimated to occur.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   This act applies both retroactively and prospectively.