Condo Association Management Blog

I am a bit confused of what you are saying. First according to the by-laws of your state, it will tell you who is responsible for these repairs. 
 
In my state , it states the Condo Assoc. is responsible for the outside walls, the inside walls would be your responsiblity. Anything in the inside of the walls 
 
would have to be looked at. Like wiring, water pipes, or anything shared by the other units. 
 
You are responsible for the inside walls from the floor to the ceiling. That would be any dry wall or plaster walls. Again if there is aything that is shared by the other units you would be in question of. I think you need a good contractor to look at this and maybe an insurance agent. 
 
Check before you move forward. Good luck

Generally if the problem is within (inside) the condo...the expense is paid for by the owner.....not the association...check your condo docs

The condo docs will be the guide. Generally speaking on an exterior wall anything outside of the interior sheetrock is association responsibility. On the interior wall it will be owner responsibility but an argument can be made if the water damage is coming from the outside that the association could be responsible.  
 
//Rick 
 
Pacific Crest Reserves

I have to agree with the other comments that this sounds like it would be more up to the owner rather than the HOA, but yeah, I would check the docs. 
 
Where it might be an issue is if there are problems from the outside and exterior of the building that are causing the problems. For instance, my board is going to be looking at water intrusion issues based on problems on the exterior of the building.  
 
However, we are not responsible for the damage inside the units as long as we have addressed the problem in a timely way. For instance, we are doing a meeting next week to discuss this and how it would be funded (and may have to look at special assessments), and in the meantime, we have engineers out looking at the problem and providing estimates to fix. 
 
This will, unfortunately, require us to look at special assessments. And even if it doesn't affect all buildings ... unfortunately, the entire community is responsible for work everywhere. 
 
However, a resident can't just order a special assessment, at least in most condo associations I know of. That's a board decision (you have to check your own condo docs), and that means the board would have to meet and vote on it. I would highly recommend you contact the board and make sure you're at any meeting to speak out against it if you feel that it's not worth the money -- or shouldn't even be considered by the board.

Thank you all for your answers. Unfortunately there has been a lot of focus on interior vs exterior walls. Reality is that cost in the interior walls is marginal. The big issue is the exterior wall and it's clear from the above and my reading of the CCRs that that's an HOA responsability. But I still want to know if it's really posible for them to force me to pay a stratospheric amount of money. Take into account that we're only 3. As long as they are both in agreement that means majority of votes. Aren't any basic constitutional rights (not something on the CCRs) that protect me against that?

It depends on the structure of your board as defined by the condo docs and state law there ... 
 
However, if the board can issue special assessments, and you have a majority, there is not much that can be done. The best I can suggest is maybe try to work with the board outside of this to expand to five (I did that in my community last year for much different reasons), get it passed by whatever means necessary, and then go back and re-address the special assessment (without letting them know that that was what you were doing). 
 
Most times, special assessments can be rescinded. 
 
But if the work needs to be done -- especially if it opens up the community to liability from its individual owners -- then you might not have much of a choice here but to then eat the special assessment.

If the owner takes it on his or her self to have the work done then it can be reasonably assumes that they are also taking financial responsibility (and are on a slippery slope). Most association CCR's have wording that does not allow an individual member to make financial decisions without a vote. If the building has damage that was hidden until the renovation happened this owner is actually doing the entire association a favor. Repairs will need to be made to preserve the building. The source of the damage will need to be identified. One trend I have seen among condo owners is a "renters mentality", that is "as long as I pay my monthly fee, everything will be fine." Many boards are hesitant to bring monthly fees in line with the associations needs.  
 
Then when major repairs or things like roof replacements are needed 
special assessments will be levied to pay for the work needed. It appears that you association is operating this way.  
 
//Rick 
 
WWW.paccrestreserves.com

A lot of these kinds of suprises can be avoided. We offer a Facility Condition Assessment and Replacement Reserve Report. This makes a clear blue-print of all future expenses for HOA's and leaves no suprises to the unit owner down the road. Visit us atwww.bluerayengineering.com to learn more.

Our bldg is 6 units rectangle, 3up 3 down. We have 3 board members. One is also the president (Mary), the other is also the treasurer (John). I am the third board member. The other day at noon the president/board member in the last unit on the ground floor furthest from the street, sent an email saying ‘last night my toilet/bath tub were clogged. 
 
the plumber is here right now and he identified the problem as the building's main line rather than my unit. he also found a few other leaking pipes under and behind the building. I left messages to everybody but so far the only one that responded is John, and he will come over in about 30 min. 
 
according to the plumber every time unit #6 will use the shower the water in my tub will accumulate. he also says that I will not be able to use the toilet/ shower until it is fixed. he is writing the contract right now, but I need at least one of you over here to help me make the decisions. the estimate is $4,700. 
 
please respond ASAP.’  
 
When I returned at 5pm and saw the email I went to talk to Mary. The plumber was already finished and gone and she had already paid him. She said it ha backed up the night before at about 8pm and she called a plumber who wanted to come that night. She told him it was late and to come the next morning. She said he got lost due to GPS and arrived a little after 11:00am. She said the plumber told her that her place was uninhabitable in that condition. She said she felt pressured because the plumber said he still had to go and buy the stuff and come back and he had to have a decision. She said it would be covered by insurance and that the plumber had assured her it would be. 
 
 
 
According to John, he went over but was in a rush to get to work and just left her with a blank check. Unfortunately, John, the treaseurer is the typical nervous stereotype that dreads confrontation. He admits his mistake. Mary resigned the next day when I told her that the situation was not a true emergency that would have justified such extensive and costly work without other estimates.  
 
 
 
Neither John nor Mary has forwarded the copy of the bill but John did send an email saying we need to decide if we want to add sewer insurance for $38 so I assume the insurance company refused to pay.  
 
 
 
From sight about 10 feet of the main at the back of the building was replaced, easily accessed via dirt only, no breaking of concrete. Another plumber phone quoted me about $1700; $2000 with the few other leaks if in fact the work actually needed to be done. However at this point we will never know as no photos were taken and the old piping was removed by the plumber. The CC&Rs call for 3 estimates. Mary is the president and knows this because she had to get 3 estimates previously when she claimed her overhead neighbors bathroom leaked into hers and caused mold. The overhead neighbor was unresponsive and the HOA was forced to hire an attorney. The HOA authorized the lowest estimate and forced the upstairs unit to pay. Mary subsequently became president about a year ago.  
 
 
 
Is Mary or John accountable for this costly error or will all of the members be forced to pay for their errors. The HOA would need to have a special assessment for this. Can they be made to reimburse the HOA? Will the insurance reimburse under our officers/board member insurance coverage? Would the HOA have to sue the officers or the insurance? Any input is appreciated?