Tracking Condominium Association Responsibilities

Keeping track of who is responsible for maintaining, repairing, insuring, and paying for repairs for the various components of a condominium can be a dizzying task.  While one may usually assume that the unit owner is responsible for repairing and maintaining his own unit, virtually nothing else is guaranteed.  It seems like every declaration of condominium includes at least some unique provisions regarding the definition of the unit or of limited common elements, responsibility for repairs and maintenance, insurance responsibilities, and other important matters.  Finally, determining whether the association may utilize the “pass-through” statute (ARS 33-1255(c)) that allows the association to assess the cost of common expenses benefitting fewer than all owners to the owners who benefit is one of the most difficult determinations to make and requires a comprehensive review of the entire declaration.

When forced to respond to board inquiries on the fly, managers sometimes do not have enough time to carefully scrutinize the association’s governing documents before throwing out an answer under the pressure of a meeting.  In the alternative, managers are sometimes forced to re-invent the wheel and spend hours reviewing documents to find an answer a previous manager may have already provided to a previous board.  In order to efficiently respond when issues arise regarding insurance, repairs, or other association responsibilities, it can be helpful to make a list of the association’s responsibilities before they become an issue.  Charting responsibility for the various building components can help managers provide quick responses to board questions, provide more accurate responses, and above all, consistent responses. 

Remaining cognizant of exactly what the association insures, repairs, and maintains and being able to distinguish it from what the homeowners insure, repair, and maintain is crucial to providing effective and efficient management service to a condominium.  It is also vital to know who pays for those services when performed on various condominium components.  While it may not address every single component or situation, charting out the responsibilities can be helpful.  There will of course be individual factual situations that may not fit.  There will also be situations where negligence of the owner, payment by insurance, or the “pass-through” statute affects the analysis.

If you have questions about association responsibilities versus those of the members of a condominium, or would like to pursue an analysis/chart of responsibilities, please contact Mark Holmgren or another attorney in the office.