Civil Code Records & Inspection
Relation to Corporations Code
Chapter 6 · Association Governance · Record Inspection
Text current as of 2026-07-07 · Last amended by AB 1317, eff. 2013-09-26
The code says CIV §5240
(a) As applied to an association and its members, the provisions of this article are intended to supersede the provisions of Sections 8330 and 8333 of the Corporations Code to the extent those sections are inconsistent.
(b) Except as provided in subdivision (a), members of the association shall have access to association records,
including accounting books and records and membership lists, in accordance with Article 3 (commencing with Section 8330) of Chapter 13 of Part 3 of Division 2 of Title 1 of the Corporations Code.
(c) This article applies to any community service organization or similar entity that is related to the association, and to any nonprofit entity that provides services to a common interest development under a declaration of trust. This article shall operate to give a member of the organization or entity a right to inspect and copy the records of that organization or entity equivalent to that granted to association members by this article.
(d) This article shall not apply to any common interest development in which separate interests are being offered for sale by a subdivider under the authority of a public report issued by the Bureau of Real Estate so long as the subdivider or all
subdividers offering those separate interests for sale, or any employees of those subdividers or any other person who receives direct or indirect compensation from any of those subdividers, comprise a majority of the directors. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this article shall apply to that common interest development no later than 10 years after the close of escrow for the first sale of a separate interest to a member of the general public pursuant to the public report issued for the first phase of the development.
(Amended (as to be added by Stats. 2012, Ch. 180) by Stats. 2013, Ch. 352, Sec. 54. (AB 1317) Effective September 26, 2013. Addition and amendment operative January 1, 2014, by Stats. 2012, Ch. 180, Sec. 3, and Stats. 2013, Ch. 352, Sec. 543.)
How courts have read this
Editorial summaries — not the court’s words.
- Moran v. OSO VALLEY GREENBELT ASS'N 92 Cal. App. 4th 156 · 2001 Wrongfully withholding association records can trigger a member’s fee award.
Applies former Civ. Code §1363(f), now this section’s subdivision (b), which routes members’ records demands through Corp. Code §8330 et seq.: after finding minutes wrongfully withheld, denying §8337 fees without any explanation is an abuse of discretion.