Everybody's business, no one's responsibility
Sam Schneiderman, Broker-owner of Greater Boston Home Team continues his Monday series.
When most people think about condominium life, they envision life with fewer maintenance responsibilities than they’d have with single family home ownership. After all, isn’t that why there’s a condo fee?
Well…..not always.
While the living may be easy in larger condominium associations that employ management professionals and pro-active board members, I often see problems in smaller associations (typically with under six units) that lack the knowledge and/or funds to properly maintain the building. While those owners enjoy lower condo fees, dealing with obvious problems as they arise, lack of pro-active preventive maintenance has caused many smaller condo buildings to literally decay around them or create dangerous situations that the condo owners are not even aware of. Usually, the damage caused by deferred maintenance is not discovered until one of the condo owners decides to sell and the buyer brings in a home inspector who discovers things like:
- gutters that are damaged or overflowing
- water leaks from the exterior into the structure, foundation or, worse yet, electrical panel
- siding that needs to be replaced because it wasn’t painted on time
- water penetration that caused wood rot or mold
- clogged chimneys that force carbon monoxide into basements or living areas
- chimneys that are about ready to topple over
- rusting main sewer pipes that are beginning to leak raw sewerage
- porches with structural problems because they weren’t maintained or were improperly repaired
Those are just some of the more common problems that I see regularly in small condo associations.
When problems are discovered in the “common areas” (as opposed to an owner’s specific living area) all owners in the building (or project) are responsible for the cost of repairs based on their pro-rated percentage of ownership.
Assuming that the seller agrees to pay for his share of the repairs, if another owner can’t or won’t come up with the cash for repairs or agree to get and pay for a loan to finance them (if one is available) the seller has to pay for his own share of the repairs in addition to the reluctant owner’s share, otherwise the sale will not proceed unless the buyer is willing to proceed and pick up those costs later. By that time that gets negotiated, most buyers become concerned about living in a building with another owner that can’t or won’t pay attention to details that they walk away from the deal.
PERSPECTIVE:
Even though building maintenance is everybody’s business in a condo association, the question of who is responsible for taking care of that maintenance in a competent, pro-active manner is one that every owner and buyer needs to address.
