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.

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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 the WUCIOA may choose to opt into the WUCIOA.

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Older CICs that have not opted into the WUCIOA are regulated by different statutes depending on their ownership structure and the date they were created:

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

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Effective January 1, 2028, the older CIC statutes will be repealed and the WUCIOA will apply to all CICs regardless of their creation date.

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A CIC is administered by a unit owners' or homeowners' association, which is an organization consisting of property owners within the CIC. ?An association 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.?
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The primary functions of an association include:? managing and maintaining common areas, such as parks, roads, and community centers; imposing and collecting assessments; and enforcing restrictive covenants that govern the community.? In addition, an association may adopt rules and regulations concerning property use in the community and impose fines for violations of those rules.

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Under the WUCIOA, "record," when used as a noun, means information inscribed on a tangible medium or contained in an electronic transmission.?

Under each of the CIC statutes, CIC unit owners or their authorized agents may file written inquiries by certified mail with their associations regarding association governance or operations.? The association must respond, in the form of a record, within 30 days after receipt of the inquiry.? The association must either give a substantive response or notify the inquirer that a legal opinion or other third-party opinion has been requested.? If such an opinion is requested, the association must provide the inquirer with a substantive response, in the form of a record, within 60 days after receipt of the inquiry.

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An association is precluded from recovering attorneys' fees and costs in any subsequent dispute arising from the inquiry if the association fails to provide a substantive response to an inquiry as required by the bill.

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The association may adopt reasonable rules and regulations regarding the frequency and manner of responding to inquiries.? One of these rules may be that the association is only obligated to respond to one written inquiry per unit in any 30-day period.? In such a case, the association must respond to any additional inquiry or inquiries in the subsequent 30-day period, or periods, as applicable.

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A unit owner is not precluded from asking more than one question as part of a single inquiry.

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The language added to the three older CIC statutes (the HPRA, WCA, and HOAA) expires January 1, 2028, which is the same date that those older CIC statutes will be repealed.