House Bill 595, legislation which assigns the investigation and mediation of certain complaints regarding planned communities, cooperatives, and condominiums under Title 68 (Real Property), to the Office of Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, passed the Pennsylvania State Senate unanimously on Tuesday, April 18, 2018 after passing the House in 2017. The Bill was signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf on Monday, May 7, 2018. The provisions of the Bill, now Act 17 of 2018, will take effect in 60 days.
The legislation was originally introduced in 2016 by Representative Rosemary Brown, (R-Monroe). Title 68 already allows for complaints regarding financial documents to be filed with the Bureau of Consumer Protection; however, it does not assist with other serious complaints that may be a violation of other portions of Title 68. Examples include meetings, quorums, voting/proxies and other association records. CAI’s Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee initially opposed the broad scope of the legislation when it was originally introduced in 2016, and was successful in convincing Rep. Brown to amend the Bill to narrow the scope of authority to complaints related to association meetings, quorums, voting and proxies, and association records. The legislation passed the House in 2016 but did not see a vote in the State Senate.
CAI will provide more in-depth information on the measures included in the Bill in the near future.
For more information on pending legislation, visit the legislative page of our website.
