Editorial Standards

What every guide should provide

A guide should answer its title near the beginning. It should name the state or other jurisdiction, identify the property type and audience, explain the rule in plain language, show the exceptions that change the result, list the records to gather, and link the official sources used.

Sources

The source order depends on the question. A statute, regulation, official court material, public-utility commission order, tariff, state or local code, permit office, agency, tax authority, or utility may control. Government-backed reference pages can help locate an issue, but they do not replace the controlling authority.

Each guide shows the source-check date and next-review date. A material source change, correction, amendment, repeal, or unresolved conflict can trigger an earlier review.

Scope and wording

HOA, condominium, co-op, rental, detached-home, deeded-space, assigned-space, common-area, and shared-roof questions are kept separate. Statewide rules are distinguished from local permits, building and fire requirements, utility processes, leases, contracts, insurance, financing, and property-specific facts.

The wording should match the source:

• Must describes a requirement imposed by the cited authority.
• May describes discretion or a permitted condition.
• Generally is used only when material exceptions are explained nearby.
• The cited sources do not resolve is used when the record leaves a real question open.
• No specific statewide protection was identified is used only after the relevant official-source search is complete.

The site does not turn silence into permission, a permit into HOA approval, or an incentive description into an eligibility decision.

Corrections

Use the corrections page to report a source change, missing exception, wrong date, broken link, or inaccurate statement. Material corrections are checked against the controlling source, applied to the guide, dated, and recorded in its changelog. Related guides are checked when the same source or rule affects them.

Review intervals

Fast-moving incentives, agency changes, and implementation questions are reviewed more often than stable process pages. Guides show their actual next-review dates. A guide can be corrected, withdrawn, or temporarily removed from normal navigation when its controlling source changes or a material issue is being checked.

Commercial separation

Advertising and affiliate relationships do not control legal conclusions, source placement, or guide rankings. Official-source links come before commercial links, and sponsored content would be labeled.