THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 17, 1994 TAG: 9412150310
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: COMMON GROUND
SOURCE: G. ROBERT KIRKLAND and MICHAEL INMAN Final
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Q. The existing documents of our association are more than 10 years old. While our units are in fine condition and our common grounds are well maintained, other owner responsibility items are outside the warrant period.
Owner responsibility items should be the responsibility of the owner. Some unit owners are still demanding and receiving interior repairs and maintenance done under the original warranty.
Should not our by-laws be updated to define unit owners' responsibilities and reflect estimated costs for our maintenance staff to perform the repairs and maintenance?
A. It is clear from your questions that there is confusion over the role of the association and the maintenance responsibilities of both the association and the individual owners.
The individual owner is responsible for the maintenance for all the items defined as part of the unit. In most cases, this will include the interior walls, carpets, painting, appliances, heating systems and plumbing serving only that unit.
The association has no warranty responsibility to the individual owner. The association must maintain the common areas.
The association would only be responsible for the interior maintenance if the damage was caused by a problem from the common area, such as a roof leak.
There are some associations, such as time-share and co-ownership communities, that provide for interior maintenance.
Where this occurs, there is a specific budget for the repair and replacement of the interior.
It does not appear that your association meets this criteria.
Since you're in a whole-ownership community, the only warranty for the interior is from the original developer and any homeowners warranty that the developer provided.
There may even be extended warranties provided by the appliance manufacturers, but not by the association.
It is inappropriate for an association to provide these services without charging back the cost to the owner.
When work is done by the association maintenance staff, the labor and material charges should immediately be billed to the homeowner.
This policy should be clearly spelled out in a policy resolution adopted by the board. It should be sent to every owner so there will be no misunderstanding.
Every association needs to periodically review its documents so that it can keep them current. Many associations have amended their documents to clarify issues that were not anticipated by the developer.
There are two areas that must be clearly defined as the maintenance responsibility.
The first is the unit. That means the portion of the building that you own exclusively. Generally, this will be the interior and those things that serve your unit only, such as a heat pump.
Other parts that are usually unit include non-load bearing walls, fixtures, doors, windows and carpeting.
The second is the common elements. These refer to those portions of the condominium used or available to all the owners. This would include streets, pools, clubhouses, and the like.
In a majority of condos, these will also include roofs, exterior siding, fences, hallways, lobbies and parking lots.
The declaration should list those parts of the property that are in each category. The plats and plans will also show the larger sections by some type of chart.
The bylaws or the declaration usually prescribe and assign maintenance responsibility.
Once this is done, then the association must uniformly enforce these responsibilities. When an association performs services that are the financial responsibility of the owner, the owner needs to be billed promptly.
Failure to have and enforce such a uniform policy can only lead to more problems. MEMO: G. Robert Kirkland, president of a Virginia Beach property management
consulting firm, and attorney Michael A. Inman specialize in Virginia
community association issues and are affiliated with the Southeastern
Virginia chapter of the Community Associations Institute. Send comments
and questions to them at Real Estate Weekly, 150 W. Brambleton Ave.,
Norfolk, Va. 23510. To submit questions by phone, call 446-2033; fax:
446-2531.
by CNB