Garage cleanup

Started by DavidA7 • 6 replies • 1662 views

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DavidA7 (California)
Posts: 179

Posted:

Hello all,

We have a single subterranean garage where each unit owner owns their parking spaces. The garage is a mess, there is oil and excessive dirt in most of the spaces and the parking lines have faded out. The Board wishes to clean the garage, have the concrete resealed and repaint the lines. I informed the Board that the parking spaces are exlusive use so are the responsibility of the unit owners. I know if we approach all the unit owners and inform them that we are going to do the above and bill them for their portion their is going to be an uproar. On the otherside if we inform the homeowner to clean them it won't happen and the concrete won't be resealed. It is in our CC&R's that they are responsible for the maintenance and cleanup of their parking spaces.

Can the Board unilaterlly approve the repairs and then bill the homeowners for their percentage of area fixed without approval from the homeowners?

We are in California

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

David, it depends on the governing documents but I presume they require the HOA to maintain the garage since it is common to all units. You stated each owner owns their parking spaces. Does "space" mean only the area of the air space? Does it include the floor, paint, ceiling, etc.?

DavidA7 (California)
Posts: 179

Posted:

The parking spaces are deeded to them - thus they are exlusive use belonging to each unit owner. So I would assume that includes floor, paint up to the garage ceiling which is part of the HOA struture that the units sit on top of. Nothing in our HOA says anything that the HOA is responsible for the garage per se but since the middle area where all cars drive through I guess would be considered HOA Area.

Here is an example of our strucuture

__________________________________________________________________________________________
|
|
| Parking Space A Parking Space B
|____________________________ ______________________________
|
|
| Parking Space C MIDDLE Parking Space D
| Owned by HOA
|_____________________________ _____________________________
|
|
|
|
_________________________________ ____________________________

DavidA7 (California)
Posts: 179

Posted:

ignore drawing I hit wrong button and it posted badyly

I can't attach a word doc or a PNG file to this communication so really can't explain our design

DavidA7 (California)
Posts: 179

Posted:

Well our management company representative indicated the following:

"There are a couple of options. IIMO, this is an item that should be covered in your reserves. If the Association chooses not to pull the money from reserves, then you can do a special assessment of up to 5% of the budget without membership approval. Unless the repair is for rebuilding or major repairs of structural portions of the common area, then per Section 6(b) of the CCR’s, the cost must be shared equally.

Based on your estimate, you would need to have the special assessment voted on by the membership, since the estimated cost either way is over 5% of the budget or the shared cost as you propose is over 5% of their monthly dues."

My problem is the parking spaces are owned by the Owners and thus are exlusively owned by the Unit owner of record.

Any suggestions as unit owners are not going to approve a special assessment.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

David,

I know that your using the argument that the spaces are deeded thereby the cost to repair/maintain is that of each individual unit owner. I am of the expectation that each unit has the same number of spaces.

Since each unit pays to the same amount of assessments to the Association and there are, per you own posting, common elements within the garage, I believe that the Association should be the authority to maintain and repair the garage.

To expect x amount of owners to maintain the common elements without a single entity (the Association) making the decision you run into issues that could be easily avoided. The simplest example I can foresee is the individual owner who doesn't want to seal and paint this year as they believe it can last another year or two.

I'm not saying your logic is flawed. I'm saying look at the realistic problems and how those problems can be avoided. By using the Reserves to maintain the garage - including the individual, deeded parking spaces, the Association keeps a pleasing appearance, ensures the safety of the structure and minimizes the finger pointing when gray areas of responsibility come up.

Tim

DavidA7 (California)
Posts: 179

Posted:

TimB4 - well said

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