The Engineer and the Condo Association Building Assessment
Immediately after the condo developer transition, the condo board will want to hire a professional engineer to conduct a thorough condo association transition study, to evaluate the condition of all buildings, building systems, and condo association common areas, and to identify any problems or potential problems the condo developer should address. This transition study should include a detailed description of any structural problems (including construction and design flaws), an estimate of the condo association costs for repairing or replacing defective components, and a suggested schedule for undertaking and completing that work. (In conjunction with the condo association transition study, the engineer should also prepare the condo reserve replacement study the condo board will need for budgeting and future planning purposes.)
The developer transition report will create the factual foundation the condo board may need to negotiate with the developer and, if the negotiations are not successful, to initiate legal action if necessary to force the condo developer to correct or pay to correct any problems for which the developer is responsible.
There is no reason to assume that the condo board will have to sue the condo developer to remedy construction problems or for any other reason. The developer transition study may determine that everything is fine or the condo developer may willingly correct any problems the study does identify. But if there are structural problems, you want to identify them early in the process, partly because the passage of time will almost certainly make the condo developer less responsive, but also because construction defect litigations are subject to strict time limits. Delays in discovering problems could prevent the condo association from pursuing legal action or reduce the prospects of recovering damages from the condo developer even if the condo association sues successfully and wins an award.
