Condo Association Management Blog

It sounds to me like your Pres may have a financial interest in the equal division of costs. (his lower) What do your Doc's say? He can't dictate if the other nine agree.

I'm not an attorney, but I have this suggestion. Look in your documents and make note of the word MUST. Wherever that words appears, it means you MUST follow what the documents say. If it says MAY, then you maybe you can agree on variations. When owners are a part of a condo association, and the documents specifically say that the costs are equally divided, you really don't have a choice, except change the covenants before dividing the cost.

You really need to consult your documents. Typically, you should have a document called a Master Deed or CC&R's which state the limited and general common elements and the responsibility for repair and replacement. It should also list if the units are all equal or if they are differing percentages, which is typically referred to as percentage of value. 
 
Percentage of value or valuation is usually a formula based on any number of factors and may include square footage, amenities, original sale price or other factors. For example, I manage a community that is percentage of value based on a formula that included square footage and amenities. This is an association on a lake, and those closer to the water are a higher percentage of value. 
 
If this is an association expense, then it should be billed as an additional assessment as any assessment is billed. If all of your assessments are equal, then the additional assessment should be the same. However you are assessed for Association fees is how your addtional assessment should be as well, taking into account that the Association fees are not billed incorrectly.

The best advice I can give to you is to set up a meeting with your management company and your association lawyer and find out the legalities of situation. What the lawyer tells you is what you must do.

Our condo association is made up of ten units. The 10th unit is a stand alone building/home. This unit has a major issue with its sprinkler system that needs to replaced. The original construction was faulty as the sprinkler pipes in wall were not propertly insulated. Currently they have not had working sprinklers for over 6 months. 
 
 
 
Sprinklers are a "common element" by the Master Deed for "repair and maintenance" but the other 9 units do not have sprinklers (only in stairwells) and the size and scope of the fix for this project is huge. What are the associations rights in this manner? Our we legally obligated to pay to help repair? We engaged an attorney and all they said is that is a common element but the size and scope seem unfair. 
 
 
 
One option was replacing system with an anti-freeze system. This maybe being blocked by our town. The anti-freeze system will require the system to be maintained yearly at a cost to the entire association. This does not feel fair to the association to divide costs that way. The insurance company is unwilling to pay in this situation as they look at this system as increasing the value of this building.