FDIC

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) preserves and promotes public confidence in the U.S. financial system by insuring deposits in banks and thrift institutions for at least $250,000; by identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to the deposit insurance funds; and by limiting the effect on the economy and the financial system when a bank or thrift institution fails.

An independent agency of the federal government, the FDIC was created in 1933 in response to the thousands of bank failures that occurred in the 1920s and early 1930s. Since the start of FDIC insurance on January 1, 1934, no depositor has lost a single cent of insured funds as a result of a failure.

The FDIC receives no Congressional appropriations – it is funded by premiums that banks and thrift institutions pay for deposit insurance coverage and from earnings on investments in U.S. Treasury securities. The FDIC insures trillions of dollars of deposits in U.S. banks and thrifts – deposits in virtually every bank and thrift in the country.

The standard insurance amount is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category. The FDIC’s Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimatorcan help you determine if you have adequate deposit insurance for your accounts.

The FDIC insures deposits only. It does not insure securities, mutual funds or similar types of investments that banks and thrift institutions may offer. (Deposit Insurance: What’s Covered distinguishes between what is and is not protected by FDIC insurance.)

The FDIC directly examines and supervises about 4,000 banks and savings banks for operational safety and soundness, more than half of the institutions in the banking system. Banks can be chartered by the states or by the federal government. Banks chartered by states also have the choice of whether to join the Federal Reserve System. The FDIC is the primary federal regulator of banks that are chartered by the states that do not join the Federal Reserve System. In addition, the FDIC is the back-up supervisor for the remaining insured banks and thrift institutions.

The FDIC also examines banks for compliance with consumer protection laws, including the Fair Credit Billing Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Truth-In-Lending Act, and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, to name a few. Finally, the FDIC examines banks for compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) which requires banks to help meet the credit needs of the communities they were chartered to serve.

To protect insured depositors, the FDIC responds immediately when a bank or thrift institution fails. Institutions generally are closed by their chartering authority – the state regulator, or the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The FDIC has several options for resolving institution failures, but the one most used is to sell deposits and loans of the failed institution to another institution. Customers of the failed institution automatically become customers of the assuming institution. Most of the time, the transition is seamless from the customer’s point of view.

The FDIC is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but conducts much of its business in regional and field offices around the country.

The FDIC is managed by a five-person Board of Directors, all of whom are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, with no more than three being from the same political party.

 

For more information, visit: https://www.fdic.gov/

Licenses

A license is an authorization given by the owner of land to another to perform an act or acts on the owner’s property. The owner’s permission may be expressed or implied. The license is a personal privilege; it is not an interest or right in the land. Generally, licenses are revocable at will by the land owner. The classic license is personal to the license holder and cannot be transferred, assigned, conveyed, or inherited. Written license agreements frequently blur the line between easements and licenses.

Barking Dogs

The CC&Rs for many associations prohibit noise nuisances in general and pet nuisances specifically. Excessive animal noise, including excessive dog barking, can frequently be addressed through one or both of these provisions. Additionally, local noise ordinances usually contain an express prohibition on excessive dog barking.

Ceiling

California Civil Code section 4775(a) provides that an owner is generally responsible for maintaining and repairing the components within his/her separate interest unless the CC&Rs provide for a different allocation of responsibility. Before any work is performed on a ceiling within a building constructed before 1979, that ceiling should be inspected by a licensed expert for asbestos-containing materials. If such materials are found, certain remediation and notification requirements may be triggered.

Community Apartment Project

A community apartment project is one of the four types of CIDs that are considered common interest developments in Civil Code section 4100. This type of CID is unusual and quite rare. There are only a couple of them we have seen in La Jolla, although there are others elsewhere in California. They are often mislabeled “co-ops,” but they are different from stock cooperatives although they share some characteristics in common with both condominiums and stock cooperatives. In a typical community apartment project, an association owns no real property, but it is responsible for the operation and management of the development as in any other CID. The owners either have a percentage ownership or equal fractional ownership interest in the entire development, including the separate interests (i.e., apartments or interior airspaces). Owners do not own but rather have an exclusive right to occupy the unit. Some community apartment projects may not have separate CC&Rs but were created solely by covenants recorded in the original grant deeds to the first purchasers. See Civil Code section 4105.

Covenants

In the context of community associations, a “covenant” refers to a provision within the CC&Rs, usually a restriction on the use of land or a requirement to belong to the association, and to pay assessments for the support of the association. These conditions are construed as promises by both the association and its members to abide by the CC&Rs. Traditionally enforcement of covenants was subject to diverse requirements in order to bind both parties to the covenant; accordingly, the Davis-Stirling Act says that the restrictions in CC&Rs are “equitable servitudes,” which are easier to enforce.

Discipline of Member

Discipline of a member is largely controlled by Civil Code section 5855. The most basic requirements follow the 10/15 rule. Members must be notified of a hearing at least 10 days prior to the meeting and notified of the outcome within 15 days following the meeting (governing documents may require a longer notice period). If your association does not have a fine policy, the association should draft and adopt one pursuant to Civil Code section 4360. Ensure that all disciplinary measures are well documented with hard copy letters and consistent application of the association’s fine policy.