Fire rated doors-Common property or part of Unit

The fire marshal has ordered all balcony doors leading to the fire escapes to be fire rated. All unit owners must comply immediately and replace their existing doors. The Board has contracted for the purchase and installation of these doors without the unit holder's consent or review and is demanding the payment of the costs. Doors are generally considered part of each unit but we have a "safety" exclusion in our By-Laws that states items excluded from units (and thereby classified as common property) include "fixtures of any kind which are not removable without jeopardizing the soundness, safety or usefulness of other portions of the Condominium." It goes on to state that common elements are "any and all other items...necessary to the...safety of the several buildings."
How should these doors be classified?

Oops I left out a fact. Not all units have balconies with fire escapes requiring door replacement. It's roughly 50% of the units that are affected by the fire marshal's ruling.

Thanks Fred, that's what I thought. Now, if the board insists that these clauses don't apply and that the doors are each balcony unit owner's responsibility, can the decision be appealed? Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? Also, can the board then insist that the unit owner buy the specific door and use the contracting company that the board selects? If the door is not common property should the unit owner be allowed to choose, assuming of course the door meets fire code regulations? Thank you.

Brava MelissaP1! Well said. Just so I understand, you believe that ALL unit owners, not just those with balconies (and fire doors), should be assessed, correct? The issue we're having is that the board has deemed the doors as part and parcel of the balcony unit they lead from, instead of a common element for which all will benefit in case of fire. Thank you for your response.

Hi John, thanks for jumping in. It's my fault for not being as clear as possible. I'm trying to walk a fine line between giving enough information and not being verbose. The doors ARE NOT accessible by everyone, if so I agree with you there would be no issue-common element-case closed.

In the past, door replacement/repair was never clearly defined. Each new board would handle as they saw fit. Some unit owners replaced their own doors while others were replaced using condo funds. There was no rhyme or reason and there are numerous door styles and colors throughout the development. There was NEVER any stated, implied nor enforced requirement for fire resistant doors to be used.

The current issue arose when the fire marshal made an inspection and mandated fire resistant doors and hardware to be installed on every door leading from the balconies to the outdoor fire escapes.

I contend that this mandate caused the "safety exclusion" clauses I cited in my opening post to apply. The doors can not be removed without jeopardizing safety (by order of the fire marshal) therefore they are common elements therefore all unit owners should be responsible for their cost. It's logic to me, however the board disagrees and says only the unit owners with balconies/doors should pay.

Am I any clearer or did I muddy it up more? I can provide more info, just keep asking (smile).

How long have the doors been in place and why is the fire marshall requiring them to be replaced? I would challenge the need to replace them if they were there for years. If indeed they need to be replaced I would assess all units equally regardless if they had a door or not. The only way I wouldn't is the door was damaged as a result of negligence.