Miscellaneous & related Alaska laws

Alaska law provides for a solar easement: an easement obtained to protect a property's exposure to the direct rays of the sun. It must be created in writing and is subject to the same recording requirements as other conveyances of real property (§ 34.15.145(a)). The instrument must include the vertical and horizontal angles, in degrees, over which the easement extends; any terms or conditions of the grant or its termination; and any provision for compensation if the easement is interfered with, or to the burdened owner for maintaining it (§ 34.15.145(b)).

Read what this does carefully: it is a mechanism for neighbors to create a solar easement by agreement. By its terms it does not grant a right to install solar panels and does not override a community's architectural restrictions. Whether you may install a solar energy system in your community still turns on your recorded declaration and architectural rules.

Alaska's human rights law reaches service animals through its definition of disability: “physical or mental disability” expressly includes a condition that may require the use of a prosthesis, special equipment for mobility, or a service animal (§ 18.80.300(14)). Discrimination because of a physical or mental disability in the sale or rental of real property is unlawful (§ 18.80.240), and “real property” expressly includes condominium and cooperative interests (§ 18.80.300(17)). Note one part of that section reaches further than a sale: it is also unlawful to discriminate in a term, condition, or privilege relating to the use of real property (§ 18.80.240(2)) — the language most likely to reach how an association applies its rules.

The detailed standard, though, is not written into the statute. Section 18.80.050(b) directs the State Commission for Human Rights to adopt regulations giving guidance on when a reasonable accommodation is necessary — expressly including for the sale or rental of real property — so the operative test lives in the Commission's regulations. Alongside that, the federal Fair Housing Act independently requires reasonable accommodations and modifications and is the framework behind HUD's guidance on assistance and emotional-support animals — which is what usually governs an association's response to an accommodation request.

Unlike some states, Alaska has its own collection agency licensing law. Without a license, a person may not for compensation conduct a collection agency business, collect claims for others, or seek payment of a claim on behalf of another (§ 08.24.090(a)). Certain callings are exempt when acting in the regular course of their business — including attorneys at law, banks and lending institutions, and licensed real estate brokers (§ 08.24.090(b)). A violation is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both (§ 08.24.090(c)). Collection agencies also may not use demand forms or notices drawn to resemble court process (§ 08.24.320).

The trap worth knowing. Because the law is aimed at collecting claims owed to another, an association chasing its own assessments is generally not acting as a collection agency. But the definition contains a catch: a person or association using a name other than its own to collect its own claims, in a way intended or tending to convey the impression that a third party has been employed, is conducting a collection agency business (§ 08.24.380(2)(A)). A board that sends demand letters under an invented “collections department” name can walk into this.

When an association uses a third-party collector or attorney, the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act can also apply, barring abusive, deceptive, and unfair practices. Complaints can go to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, or the Alaska Department of Law.

Alaska prohibits transfer fee covenants: a document conveying real estate may not require a later grantor or grantee to pay a fee to convey the property, apart from a lien holder's loan assumption fee or a commission to a licensed real estate broker (§ 34.15.105(a)). These are the private covenants that skim a percentage off every future sale of a home.

But read the definition before assuming it reaches your community's charges. “Transfer fee” expressly does not include a governmental tax or charge, a recording fee, or a fee payable to a nonprofit, mandatory homeowners' association, condominium association, or cooperative under an applicable declaration or covenant (§ 34.15.105(b)). So a legitimate association charge levied under your recorded declaration — a transfer or resale-processing fee, for instance — sits outside the ban.

Which records right you have depends on which laws govern your community, and often you have more than one. Under the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, financial and other records must be made reasonably available for examination by a unit owner and the owner's authorized agent (§ 34.08.490) — and that section is one of the provisions that reaches pre-1986 communities too (§ 34.08.040). Under the older Horizontal Property Regimes Act, the manager or board of directors must keep detailed, chronological records of receipts and expenditures, available for examination by an apartment owner at convenient hours of weekdays (§§ 34.07.280, 34.07.290). And if your association is incorporated, the Nonprofit Corporation Act lets any member, or their agent or attorney, inspect all books and records for any proper purpose at any reasonable time (§ 10.20.131).