Owners, Not Association, Responsible For Altered Porches

We are a 55-plus condominium community of two-story buildings. Respective owners have enclosed most of the outside porches or sunrooms. The policy for years has been that the association was responsible for repairs to those units, screens, etc.

Now, because of the age of the units and the fact that concrete is essentially porous, we are having problems with leakage to some of our first floors because of heavy rains.

Can we mandate those owners with open porches to close them in, or can we make them responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of those open units including the damage to the lower unit, keeping in mind that the open porches may be considered limited common grounds if that description fits?

A.D.

Clearwater

In the past, your boards dropped the ball when it came time to enforce your association's architectural changes.

My guess is that if you review your documents, they will define the limited common areas to include the balconies, your porches. You should also find the requirements for an owner to alter the common areas.

In most situations, the association is never responsible for these changes as you describe. If a need arises for repairs, the owner would be responsible for those additions or changes and the association responsible for common area repairs only.

As an example, if an owner adds tile to the balcony concrete floor and the floor needs to be repaired, the owner would be responsible for removing the tile to allow the association to make the necessary repairs.

I do not believe you can force the owners to install an enclosure as you asked. The facts are that all balconies will need some type of repairs for water damage sometime in the future. Planning and knowing what changes owners make is part of proper procedures to allow repairs.

We live in a condominium governed by the statutes, our declaration, bylaws, and rules and regulations. Our board has put up a sign near the entrance of our condominium that says Deed Restrictions Enforced.

We did not realize that condominiums had deed restrictions. We thought that deed restrictions were limited to homeowners associations. Please clarify this for us.

L.F.

Inverness

In the association industry, there are many words used for the same meaning. For example, other states use "master deed" for the terms "declaration" or "covenants." These terms only define title.

When you purchase a property, you receive title usually with encumbrances or, in other words, deed restrictions. It is often said that a declaration is like a deed for the common areas, which is an encumbrance on unit deeds. You have rules and regulations that are certainly deed restrictions. Your sign is nothing more than a warning to prospective residents that they need to comply with the documents.

My condominium rules state I can have only one tenant in a two-year period. This is an investment property and the tenant lost his job and took off before the end of the lease.

I tried to sell it to an investor, but the condominium also forbids an investor to lease while in the original two-year rental period.

I tried talking to the board president several times, but all he said was sorry, we must abide by the rules. After more than a year paying mortgages, association's maintenances fees and special assessments, I finally gave up.

I could not afford to make the payments anymore, and now the property is going into foreclosure. I sent the mortgage company a comprehensive letter several months ago, with no positive response.

Is the association rule legal? Can it be liable or responsible for my lack of income?

P.S.

Miami

Your situation is very common these days. My mailbox is full of similar investor questions. Many investors have overextended into a weak market and now must take losses - big losses.

Your situation has been compounded by the rules of your association. Over the past few months, the newspapers have had front-page financial reports of the weak real estate market and mortgage availability. This weak market will rebound, but it will take time.

In your situation with your association, I can only offer an outsider view. The documents and the rules were available to you when you purchased. I do not believe you can hold the association responsible for your financial situation.

There is an old real estate saying that any property will sell for a price - a lower price. Maybe you need to list your property again at a much lower price. Take a loss and move on.

I live in a condominium of about 400 units. I am worried because the board wants to open an equity line of $3 million to cover the insurance deductible in case of a catastrophic situation.

I do not like the idea because if something happened, I am sure that all the condominium owners in my building could come up with an average of $7,000 per unit to cover the deductible. I think is risky to put that amount in the hands of the board.

V.A.

Miami Beach

I have received hundreds of questions concerning the boards borrowing money to pay expenses. I never recommend putting debt on the association's financial records.

In your case, I would suggest that the budget include a reserve fund to cover the deductible amounts and other catastrophic situations.

It may take a couple of years to start building a fund to cover the deductible, but I just feel it would be a better way to protect the future of the association.

Your board can modify the budget in the middle of the year to start collecting the money. Budgets are not set in stone and can be altered at any time to meet new expenses.

If you do have damage under the insured amount before you have the funds collected, a special assessment can be used to collect the necessary money.

The question of debt seems to be the way of today's operations because money is easy to borrow. In association living, it is not wise.