When you buy into a condo association, the HOA
usually bears responsibility for maintaining and repairing the
buildings' exteriors. However, if your HOA has a fairly small condo reserve
account, and the roof(s) need to be replaced or the whole place needs
painting, it may vote to impose a special HOA assessment on every
unit's owner for their share of the repair bill. Large special
assessments are usually proposed fairly far in advance -- a year or
more is normal -- so if your inspector
sees a lot of things wrong with the exterior of the property, pay
special attention when you are reviewing HOA newsletters and condo board
meeting minutes to see if repairs have been proposed, and if so,
whether the expense will be covered by the HOA's reserves or special
assessments against individual owners.
Similarly, the pest inspectors
often offer to split their condo inspection reports into sections based
on whether the unit's owner or the HOA would be responsible for
correcting the problem: under-sink leaks go under "Owner," and termites
in the building's crawl space go under "HOA." And, unless your unit is
a stand-alone townhome or in a building with only one other unit, it
probably doesn't make sense to have a roof inspection. (The HOA is
almost always responsible for the roof -- double check your HOA
disclosures to be sure!)
Read More About HOA Insurance and Condo Loans
