Charge-Backs

I am unclear of what charge backs are. Can you give more information on that? Thanks.

Hi Gary:

Actually what you are describing is the “limited common expense”. Items which service only a few units and who benefit from a service are the only units charged for the limited common area items they share.

The regular monthly condo fees are for all other expenses for the entire HOA and which everyone shares such as exterior maintenance, club house, pool maintenance, etc.

Your governing documents should address this under limited common expense and which items are to be considered as such.

Hi Gary:

Now I see … very interesting in that this is not the general rule in many other states regarding limited common elements. When you were discussing charge back I was looking at other areas of the statutes, as that term is more related to insurance.

Sec. 47-76. Allocation of profits and expenses.

(c) Except as provided otherwise by the condominium instruments, any expenses associated with the maintenance, repair, renovation, restoration or replacement of any limited common element shall be common expenses, provided no expenses for repairs or reconstruction of units which occur prior to the original sale of the unit by the declarant shall be considered as a common expense.

The section of law quoted (Sec. 47-76) is from Chapter 825, "Condominium Act" and no longer applies. Chapter 825 was replaced by Chapter 828, "Common Interest Ownership Act".

It's a common mistake.

As posted:

Per section Sec. 47-257
of Common Interest Ownership Act [emphasis added]:

(c) TO THE EXTENT required by the declaration:

(2) any common expense or portion thereof benefiting fewer than all of the units or their owners MAY BE ASSESSED exclusively against the units benefited;

The way I interpret, is that the Declaration governs.

So IMO GaryR5 needs to carefully read his Declaration (assume GaryR6 meant Declaration or CC&Rs, not Bylaws) to see IF assessing according to benefit is allowed.

A typical Declaration Paragraph that does not allow assessing by benefit might read:

The cost of maintenance, repair and replacement of these Limited Common Elements shall be the responsibility of the Association and shall NOT be charged to the Unit or Units exclusively benefited thereby.

Ellie,

I agree with you that the Declaration should govern unless it is silent on this topic or doesn't defer to another governing document (if you go by the OP's statement in the Bylaws).
If it is silent then per (1) of that section [emphasis added]:

" (c) To the extent required by the declaration: (1) Any common expense associated with the maintenance, repair or replacement of a limited common element shall be assessed against the units to which that limited common element is assigned, equally, or in any other proportion the declaration provides;

Therefore, if it is silent, or if the boiler is identified as a limited common element, the Association is required to charge only those units that are using it.

As you said, the OP needs to completely review their governing documents (and specifically the declaration) to see what it says.

Hi Gary:

Of our few family homes in various states only one has limited common elements which are charged to the units serviced by the element. I have found in reviewing numerous state statutes that generally those items are allocated to certain units which in turn pay the assessments for said allocation. An example is this section from CO statutes:

(1) Except for the limited common elements described in section 38-33.3-202 (1) (b) and (1) (d), the declaration shall specify to which unit or units each limited common element is allocated. That allocation may not be altered without the consent of the unit owners whose units are affected.

Unfortunately, it sounds like you were told something that is incorrect (don't believe what everyone tells you unless they can back it up with reliable source data).

First, your monthly fees are not going to cover emergency repair or replacement costs UNLESS your board has had the foresight to put a little aside each month to cover such emergencies, such as into capital reserves or a contingency fund. Such funds are normally kept separate from day-to-day operating expenses.

Second, if the furnace or water heater dies, it has to be repaired or replaced. No bones about it. If the money has not been set aside in advance, then there is no money to pay for it unless there is a special assessment.

Third, what your board is doing does not sound to me like it's a violation of Connecticut law.

Fourth, even if your board does violate the Common Interest Ownership Act, what can you do? It's not a criminal act, so you can't call the police and have someone arrested. Your only recourse is to pursue the matter in civil court and that is going to cost you more than the special assessment to repair or replace a furnace or water heater.

The best thing you can do, in addition to paying the special assessment, is to encourage your board to increase the monthly fee enough so that some money can be set aside in a separate account to pay for future emergencies so there will be no need for a special assessment.

JanetB2,

I agree finding CHAPTER 828 COMMON INTEREST OWNERSHIP ACT for Connecticut is rather elusive.

One way I found it, was by searching for “PA83-474” using Google. (And do not ask how I got to that – but it works).

And here is another site
http://law.justia.com/codes/connecticut/2011/

BTW Bruce ... forgot to say thank you so much for pointing that out for me.