HOA Rule Prohibiting Relative Of Current Board Member Or Candidate From Becoming A Candidate Or Board Member Is Valid

California Appellate Court decision (September 20, 2013).

A California HOA enacted an operating rule that prevents a person from seeking a position on the board if that prospective candidate is related by blood or marriage to any current board member, or to any current candidate for such office. A homeowner, whose wife was a member of the board, challenged the HOAs rule as violating his right to nominate himself as a candidate for the board and further on the ground that the rule violated the standards applicable to an association’s operating rules by being inconsistent with governing law and the association’s governing documents.