A common interest community (CIC) is a form of real estate in which each unit owner or homeowner has an exclusive interest in a unit or lot and a shared or undivided interest in common area property. In Washington, several statutes govern residential CICs, such as condominiums, cooperatives, leasehold CICs, miscellaneous communities, and plat communities.

The Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (WUCIOA) took effect July 1, 2018, and is applicable to CICs created on or after that date. A CIC created prior to the effective date of WUCIOA may choose to opt in to WUCIOA.

CICs created before July 1, 2018, typically are regulated by their governing documents and remain subject to the following acts:

• the Horizontal Property Regimes Act (HPRA), which apples to residential condominiums created on or before July 1, 1990;
• the Washington Condominium Act (WCA), which applies to condominiums created after July 1, 1990; and
• the Homeowners' Association Act (HOAA), which provides a framework for the formation and legal administration of homeowners' associations created before July 1, 2018.

A CIC is administered by an association of unit owners or a homeowners' association?an organization consisting of property owners and homeowners within the CIC. An association of unit owners derives its authority from several documents, including the declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions; the association's bylaws and articles of incorporation; and the deeds to the property within a development.

An association's duties include managing and maintaining common areas for the benefit of the community, imposing and collecting assessments on unit owners, and enforcing restrictive covenants that govern the community. A unit owners' association may adopt rules and regulations concerning property use in the community and impose fines for violations of those rules.

An association of unit owners in a CIC is prohibited from regulating or limiting the number of unrelated persons that may occupy a unit. An association may regulate or limit the number of unrelated persons that may occupy a unit as a short-term rental.

The committee recommended a different version of the bill than what was heard.  PRO: In central Puget Sound on any given night, over 100,000 bedrooms go unused. This bill could go a long way toward solving the homelessness crisis if the state can figure out how to use these empty rooms. One step is to pass this bill to prevent arbitrary occupancy limits from being imposed by homeowners' associations. If homeowners want to let friends in need stay with them, they should be allowed to do so.

CON: Community associations are governed differently than single family non-association housing communities. Communities may create restrictions that are not discriminatory or arbitrary. Occupancy limits are implemented for many legal reasons. The bill does not differentiate between the different types and sizes of associations. The unintended consequences of the bill will be detrimental to community associations and the people who live in them.

PRO: Toby Nixon, Self.