Patio Rights

Your CC&Rs should spell out for you what is entirely yours, what the common areas are that the HOA is to maintain, and what, if any, exclusive use common elements or areas are yours alone to use, but the HOA may make rules about them. The definition of what is the owner's personal property and what is exclusive use common areas varies from HOA to HOA.

In our high rise HOA, we have exclusive use balconies. We may not penetrate the balcony rails, walls or ceilings, e.g., to put a hook in a ceiling to hang a plant. The reason is to keep water from intruding into the walls, traveling and doing damage. In our HOA, owners are responsible for maintaining the balconies.

We also have exclusive use parking spaces in the garage and may not store anything in them except personal shopping carts. The HOA can fine us if we don't clean up fluid leaks from our cars (slip hazards). The HOA maintains them, though--stripes them, numbers them, etc.

Michael:
Nothing trumps state law and yes, your association must abide by its own governing documents.
Jeanne

It in indeed related to 'limited common elements'. I'm reviewing some legal information and it seems to cause a lot of confusion and 'grey areas' for the owners, law makers, and the board. They have deemed our enclosed brick wall patios with locked doors as 'limited common elements' and are now dictating we must remove anything that is attached to the brick or awnings, because it is their belief (they had no expert evaluation) that this is damaging the brick or wood. Our pool and community is surrounded by road iron fences that are directly attached to brick and have been so for some 40 years. It's just a hassle and begins to feel more like they're treating us as subjects instead of neighbors. These items that they're demanding be removed have been in place for decades, certainly before I moved in. I'm just amazed they can tell me what I can do on my patio that no one else can even see, and they feel free to let themselves onto said patio with no or little advance notice. I was surprised to see through my open blind windows, board members on my patio as I was coming down for breakfast one morning, not entirely clothed. I need to get their documentation and review the CC&Rs and study their wording. When I asked at the board meeting they arrogantly dismissed my inquiry without any real explanation. It is the general consensus of the neighbors, at least on my street, that this board is more interesting it complete autonomy than representing their 'neighbors' in a manner that improves the quality of life in the community.

This is a great forum, and I appreciate all of the information.
Thanks,
Michael

It may help, Michael, if you understand that what you're calling "their" documentation is your documentation. And it could very well be that your own documents "deemed" the patios limited common elements, not the directors on the board.

Do read your documents. What is the "legal information" that you're reviewing?

Yes, it would feel like a hassle to have to remove items that have been in place for a long time. But, as I wrote earlier, in my HOA no one ever has been allowed to penetrate the walls, ceiling, rails of our balconies; this prevents water intrusion. It's your board's job to protect the HOA's assets and the common areas--limited common elements or not-- are among these assets.

I am trying to find the appropriate documents, but I'm primarily focusing on the state laws related to 'common elements' and 'partial common elements' because these laws are above any covenant dictated by our board. You can call it 'our documents', but I had no hand or input into their creation. A former board president who turned out to not even be eligible to serve because she was not living here and the property was in the name or her elderly parents implemented the policy before she was forcibly removed from the board. I do live in a townhome community.....and what they are trying to enforce is the interior walls of my patio. They let themselves onto my patio by reaching over the door and unlatching it to let themselves in to evaluate it. I think I'm understanding that many of the replies come from members of controlling boards with similar policies, though most were very informative and I appreciate it all. I consulted a family attorney...and if they themselves are not removing everything attached to brick; and, if the brick hasn't fallen down in 40 years of attached metal fencing, etc. then it is unlikely a hanging basket is going to bring down the walls and they adhere to their own covenants. In our bylaws I am responsible for the repairs and maintenance of the interior walls of my patio....and it's 'upkeep', yet they are trying to tell me what I can and cannot do to it. We have locks on our patios. They are not for the use of anyone other than the owners of the units. We as residents cannot freely admit ourselves to other resident's patios. None of the residents were included in passing this new covenant....the board made this decision on its own. Often they change the dates of meetings at the last minute in what many in our community believe is an attempt to make it inconvenient for interested parties to attend.

Thanks again,

This is all very informative.
Michael

Jon, I've been trying to tell the OP, to quote you: "In many cases a balcony [or patio or deck] would be limited use common property, meaning the resident of each unit has sole use BUT the association has control and is responsible for maintaining this portion of the property." Perhaps you're saying it in a way that he can grasp.

Michael, what may be useful for you in GA state law are: How much notice must the board give prior to a board meeting? This may be in your bylaws, but the state may require a longer notice period. What procedure must to Board use to make or change rules? Your CC&Rs probably give your board the right to change/add rules, but GA may specify certain procedures that must be followed (as we have in CA).

Don't mean to drag this out if you do't want to, Michael, but when I quoted Jon, I neglected to add that in my HOA as I wrote waaaay near the beginning, we Owners are entirely responsible for maintaining our balconies, patios & decks. We can only paint the ceilings with the original color and can only use the same tiles on the floor as the original.

Board members wouldn't be able to access any except for 13 patios without going through our condos. But no HOA rep would even go into those patios without at least 24 hours notice to the residents. Management does have keys & could come in if, say, they saw water running off a balcony--an emergency. And our board does have the right to correct violations, with proper notice, and after warning & then calling an owner to a hearing, if the Owner refused to, say, remove unsightly items from their balcony/patio/deck.

But the issues of wall,ceiling or awning penetration isn't just about appearances; it's about maintaining the integrity of the stucco. In your case it might be the same thing, to keep moisture from penetrating the common area brick or awnings.

For people new to HOAs this really does feel like an invasion of privacy or overreaching. And, of course, few buyers are going to read the 100+ pages of their CC&Rs and possibly a set of rules & regs during the escrow period to see if they really want to live with these restrictions. Good luck to you.