Amendment &Â Restatement
Declaration + Bylaws
RCW 64.90 “WUCIOA”
THE COST REALITY
Has your association's attorney said your restatement might cost $20,000 to $30,000 or more?
Attorney Marlyn Hawkins recently told a WSCAI audience that associations should expect extraordinary costs for amendments and restatements.
Small plats, minimal amenities
Standard lots & shared amenities
Full RCW 64.90 conversion
Complex multi-tier associations
A TAILORED APPROACH
Each association is unique, but restatements are not created from scratch because the law prescribes 75% of what's required.
If your attorney says there's no template involved, they are either masking the truth or charging you to reinvent the wheel.
OWL-EYE ADVICE
Consider obtaining at least three bids that specifically outline the cost, deliverables, and process. Restatements have two flavors:
•A fixed price
•"We'll know the cost when we're done"
CHOOSE WISELY
What kind of process does your association want?
MODERN TECHNOLOGY
Web-based review tools,
compartmentalized feedback cycles,
and maximum efficiency.
EMAILS AND ATTACHMENTS
Wrestle with version control, lost threads,
overwhelming PDF markup,
and endless email chains.
WASHINGTON STATE
THE CLOCK IS TICKING...
SB5796 and SB5129 retrofit WUCIOA to ALL Washington State condos, co-ops and HOAs effective January 1, 2028.
RCW 64.32, RCW 64.34 and RCW 64.38 are all going the way of the dodo.
Learn more at WUCIOA.info
WHY SMAARTE?
AT THE TABLE
We know current law and what's coming next because we have a seat at the table working directly with state legislators.
VALUE DRIVEN
We charge less than half the hourly rate of most attorneys.
DEDICATED PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT
We provide hours of dedicated professional support to work hand-in-hand with your governance committee.
Restatements often require 67% homeowner approval.
Intentional preparation makes all the difference with a project involving 30,000 to 50,000 words across dozens of pages.
HOMEOWNER CENTERED
We put homeowners at the center from start to finish.
We translate reams of run-on legal jargon into digestible chunks using plain language.
Our web-based review tool facilitates collaboration and frictionless exchange of ideas.
DETAILED FRAMEWORK
Our detailed, customer-friendly framework makes the entire process easier to understand. We help compare and contrast your current documents and proposed updates by highlighting required vs. recommended sections.
CREATIVE SOLUTIONS
Creative solutions for smaller, amenity- and assessment-lite plat / HOA communities. Our Requirements, Risks & Opportunities Matrix provides a customized, comprehensive overview of WUCIOA requirements.
RESTATEMENTS REIMAGINED
[rē-i-ˈma-jən]: to form a new conception of; to re-create
Are your association's declaration and bylaws a bust? Have amendments and statutory changes left them in the dust?
Do you know what's lurking in your CC&Rs? When's the last time you took your governing docs for an oil change?
We've reimagined amendments and restatements from A-Z! Our question-oriented, compartmentalized approach leverages technology and integrates governance best practices to help homeowner volunteers navigate the restatement challenge efficiently and intuitively.
WHY NOW?
One thing is certain: community association law will continue to evolve. SB5796 / ESSB5796 repeals and replaces RCW 64.32, 64.34 and 64.38 with 64.90 effective January 1, 2028 and the changes are immense.
Given the volume of work involved and the reasonable limits of volunteer capacity, communities should expect to spend at least 12 to 18 months from inception to adoption of a restatement.
?
If your association has no plan to update your documents before January 1, 2028, what is your plan to ensure governance and operations comply with state law?
SMAARTE DELIVERABLES:
- Web-based workspace that encourages collaboration
- Comprehensive process framework and toolkit
- Project tracking, email, phone and web meeting support
- Examples, concepts and language for consideration
- References to statutes and current documents
- Dedicated facilitation sessions for Board & Homeowners
- Final summation and executive summary
