Repair of Garage Door

You will need a careful reading of your documents to ascertain what is defined as the unit (owner responsibility) and the common elements (association responsibility). In our association the garage door inner workings (tracks, opener, etc.) are regarded as part of the unit. The door itself is a common element.

Limited common elements are still common elements, just with the fact that they are reserved for private use by the unit owner. These components must still be maintained by the association.

Jim

As someone said, read your documents.

In one townhouse HOA I was a member of, the outside garage doors were rotting. It was the HOA's responsibility and the HOA was replacing them. That said, if the inner working of the garage door (opener, rails, hinges, etc.) failed, they were the responsibility of townhome owner.

In my present HOA (standalone patio homes), the association is responsible for all home exterior shell maintenance thus the exterior only of the garage door as above.

One neighbor hit/dented his garage door. He claimed under our agreement the HOA should pay for the repair. He had to be reminded the Covenants say the association is responsible for "normal wear and tear", not damage.

Steve as others have said it should be in your documents and not in the by-laws but in the Covenants. I'm not an attorney but to me it all comes down to: "Who Owns the Door?" Is the garage deeded to the homeowner or is it HOA property that is a limited common element. If it is on the homeowners deed, I would think he was responsible, if it is a LCE, then it is probably the HOA's responsibility. We are fortunate, our CC&R's specifically state that the HOA will make garage repairs and special assess them to the garage owner.

Steve

I think the question to be answered is did the internal damage (hinges, etc.) which is the owners responsibility, cause the external garage door damage?

Based on your description of damaged in several places, I doubt the internal components did such damage. I say, based on your description, the damage was done externally such as hitting the door. In either case, the owners responsibility.

I suggest the following course of action. The BOD and the owner agree to have the garage door company (the one that originally installed the door if possible) come out to evaluate the cause of the damage and the repair cost. A BOD rep and the owner be there at inspection time. Based on the decision of the garage door company:

1. The owner pay as the internal parts caused the external damage.
2. The owner pay as the external damage was caused by him.
3. The association pay as the external damage was caused by wear and tear/cheap doors.
4. The association and the owner agree to split the cost.

Hope this helps.

I live in a townhouse community and owners are responsible for the doors and windows - all of it.

As everyone else has said, read your documents - I would think in this instance, the door would be a limited common element at best, and that would make both the Association and the homeowner responsible.

I'd also wonder about that mid door hinge - how long was it broken and did the owner try to fix it or wait until the pane began having problems. If the owner didn't try to fix it or notify the Association so it could be looked at to see who was responsible, I'd make the owner responsible for the whole thing.

Shelia

As a point of interest. The last townhouse association I was an owner in (MA, 1995 to 2001), the Covenants clearly stated the HOA was responsible all building exterior maintenance.

The wooden cladding/exterior of the garage doors (10 years old) was peeling/rotting. The HOA was replacing all garage doors (one building at a time) over a 6 month period.

It all depends on what the Covenants do, or do not say.

Old thread reactivated for the posting of spam

Steven : "If a section of the door or the entire door has to be replaced, is that the Condo Owners responsibility or the HOA's responsibility ? Where are the divisions of responsibility with regard to a garage door ? . . ."

Presuming your community is registered as a condominium under Texas condo law ( rather than a Building Scheme HOA held together by registered (CCR) promises ) you need to come up to speed asap with that over-riding law and the less authoritative site specific documents. ( The garage door may soon be the least of your worries.)

Your Declaration & description should - subject to that overriding law - describe the bounds of the unit including the structural garage door.

There may be

a Standard Unit (redefinition ) by-law that expands those/shrinks any corporation exposure to repair/replace a basic unit, along with

a (unit) repair/replace by-law that may/may not be legislated capable of altering how the Texas condo law assigns UNIT repair & replacement after non-insurable deterioration or breakdown.

Unit repairs/replacement after non-insurable loss within the general condo universe are widely loaded on the unit owner. Volunteers trying to understand them, is a next challenge. An only marginally related condo issue is ownership or jurisdiction over exterior SURFACE eg condo exterior doors. Some states allow Declarations which vary who repairs/replaces what, and a charge-back mechanism where a unit owner ignores unit repair obligations.

You need to quickly get up to speed with that over-riding Texas law and what the other commenters suggested about your site specific by-laws.

I've clicked on a few threads today that seem to end "prematurely". Whoever is nipping the spam in the bud, thank you.

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