Is Hoa Responsible For Balcony Repairs

Inspections Required. In addition to reserve written report inspections every three years for maintenance and repairs, condominium associations with three or more than units must conduct a structural inspection every 9 years. The new inspection requirements exercise not change who is responsible to maintain, repair or supervene upon balconies or other elevated structures. The statute imposes additional inspection and repair obligations on HOAs as to balconies and/or elevated structures which associations are already obligated to maintain, repair or supercede.

Waterproofing Membranes. Waterproofing membranes will eventually become worn and damaged. Damage occurs naturally over time from sunlight during the summertime and rains in the winter. Trouble signs to look for include:

bubbling of the deck surface,
cracks in the membrane,
soft spots in the deck that sag when stepped on,
flashing that is pulling abroad from the wall,
water that does not flow to the drains.

Dry Rot. When water finds its style into wooden structural elements, dry rot volition weaken beams and posts until they of a sudden neglect without alarm.

Harm to Decks. In addition, owners tin can cause premature failure by moving heavy items across the surface, such as large plant-filled pots, sharp legs on chairs and tables, etc. Charcoal grills should also be prohibited--in addition to being burn hazards and creating nuisance smoke, any hot coals dropped onto the surface volition burn through the waterproofing membrane. Decks should exist kept clean since sand and grit, when walked on, will grind into the surface and damage the waterproofing.

Rules & Regulations. If owners are responsible for maintaining their own decks, guidelines need to be written into the association's rules to embrace the following items:

what to look for when inspecting the decks for damage,
how to avert impairment to the waterproofing membrane,
how ofttimes the deck should be resealed (waterproofing products such as Dexotex require recoating every v years--sooner if there is heavy usage or damage from patio furniture, etc.),
the kinds of waterproofing systems that are acceptable to the association,
prohibited deck systems, such as carpet and tile,
deck bleed maintenance, and
deck to wall flashing maintenance.

Confusing Maintenance Duties. Association documents routinely assign maintenance duties between owners and the clan. Unfortunately, exclusive utilise common areas are oftentimes left out or muddled. For example, in condominium developments, older CC&Rs are vague or silent when it comes to balcony.

Old Default Provision. To resolve the trouble, the Davis-Stirling Deed created a default provision that assigned sectional use maintenance to owners. The Human action did not define "maintenance" merely everyone previously understood it to include repairs since most dictionaries define it equally such.

New Default Provision. Starting January 1, 2017 a new default provision went into effect. Unless an association's CC&Rs country otherwise, owners continue to be responsible for maintaining their sectional use areas only the association will be responsible for repairing and replacing them. (Civ. Lawmaking §4775(a)(iii).)

Structural Elements. Unless the CC&Rs clearly state otherwise, the structural elements of balconies are the responsibleness of the clan to repair and supplant, even when the balcony is described as function of a unit. This is because the ownership of a condominium balcony is generally described as airspace bounded by the interior planes of the balcony. Thus, the structure remains mutual areas which the clan is obligated to repair and replace.

Recommendation : To avoid legal bug, associations should adopt maintenance guidelines and clearly define an owner's duties for the waterproofing portion of balconies. Those duties must harmonize with their CC&Rs. Each clan will need to decide for itself whether it wants to maintain deck coatings or assign that chore to owners--and if then, what does that mean? Associations should create maintenance charts with clearly defined duties. Those with existing charts volition demand to update them to include more detail. Some associations will demand to improve their CC&Rs.

ASSISTANCE : Associations needing legal help can contact united states of america. To stay current with bug affecting customs associations, subscribe to the Davis-Stirling Newsletter.

Adams Stirling PLC