Jinah Kim shows me into her condo in a Ventura County community. She moved here to prepare for her son to attend the local High School.
But she said she wasn't prepared for the reaction her homeowners' association had to her renovations.
"Everything was fine here in my community until I asked to remove a very obvious defect in my home when I was going through the renovation process back in November," Kim told KCLU. "I had licensed contractors working on renovating my home, and their opinion was, 'Do you want to live with something blocking your doorway for as long as you live here, which is a minimum of seven years until my son graduates high school? Or do you want us to just take 20 minutes and move it for you?' I petitioned the HOA board and the architectural committee, and they promptly replied, 'No, you cannot' [remove it]."
She showed me the doorway, which is inside her condo.
"This is literally within the interior walls of my home where no one else can see it," explained Kim.
The HOA told Kim she could not do the work, but she instructed her contractor to proceed.
"It is a defect only I have to live with, no one else, so we just went ahead and did it," she said.
The HOA presented her with a fine.
"I paid the fine, the $100 fine. I thought that was the end of it."
Kim then received a legal letter from the HOA stating that she would have to pay the HOA's contractors to alter the doorway back and threatening her with a large fine if she didn't comply.
The letter read: "If these issues are not resolved by July 10th, 2025, the board reserves the right to consider them as continuing violations, which may incur fines of up to $500 per day per violation in accordance with the association's fine schedule."
Kim felt the demand was heavy-handed.
"A $500 per day fine for removing a block in my doorway is the definition of heavy-handed. The way that they want to just put their foot down and say, 'We are the HOA, we told you not to do it and you did it, so we're gonna fine you until you listen to us,' was extremely unreasonable to me."
A new law that became effective this month helped her case. It ostensibly aims to reform housing regulations and provide a pathway to more affordable housing in California. However, a lesser-known part of the legislation includes caps on the fines HOAs can impose on members.
"One of the provisions capped HOA fines to $100 per violation. It solved all of my problems like literally the same day," said Kim.
Critics of the legislation say the caps may weaken enforcement. Advocates argue that it's a needed reform to overreaching HOAs.
"My experience is a microcosm of a much bigger problem, which is that HOAs have almost unlimited power to cite homeowners for whatever they deem is within their purview," explained Kim. "That subjective opinion is truly only up to about four people who happen to be on the board of an HOA. There are many people who are subjected to the kinds of 'wrongs' that I experienced, multiplied by thousands here in the state of California, and this law really helped us find relief from that."
According to Kim, she is sharing her story not to shame her HOA but to make other homeowners aware of changes in the penalties HOAs can impose.
KCLU reached out to her HOA for comment, but they didn't respond to our inquiry.
