Developer shuts off water

what business is it of the Board's unless an occupied unit is sprinkler-complianted ? If she has not been "evicted" as opposed to still in adverse occupancy, what about emergency fire-fighting water ?

Mike,

Under the circumstances you describe I am not certain that this is really an association issue. The landlord (the developer) is not even on the board at this time so any acts he performed were not those of the association. My understanding is that the landlord did not inform the association that he was turning off the water and your knowledge of the shut-off came only after the tenant had moved out. The chances are quite remote that a tenant who presumably could not pay the rent will hire an attorney and sue the association, among others.

In states with residential Landlord-Tenant laws, there is usually a prohibition against a landlord diminishing utilities to force the tenant out. In those states it is up to the courts to determine whether to evict.

If your state has such statutes then there is some potential liability if the association knows that a landlord intends to turn off water to force a tenant out. Perhaps your board should adopt rules prohibiting landlords from shutting water off even if that act is already prohibited by state law. Having no running water in a unit means the toilets won't flush, the kitchen dispose-all won't work, and there is no water for cleaning both people and other items. The place will stink. While no water makes the unit unlivable it creates an obnoxious nuisance for those around it.

I am curious as to how the landlord might have shut off the water beyond merely turning a valve on the exterior. Once it was off, did the landlord somehow lock the valve closed? Did he cut the line and cap it? The water lines belong to the association and I cannot see any good reason to allow an irate landlord from tampering with them.

MikeB15,

How is the water metered for the townhouses? That is, does each individual Unit receive a water bill? Does each Unit have a separate meter?

MikeB15 ("What should I do as HOA president or we do as a board now or in the future if this happens again ?")

Making the assumption that the only safety or "physicals" aspect is a landlord denying utilities to a tenant whether in possession or not, please clarify :

Under what legal theory in the first place, could your HOA / whatever it is have any standing or right to intervene in the legal relationship / dealings between the landlord owner and tenant occupant where all HOA fees have been paid and governance duties are in direct & indirect compliance with reference to the use & occupancy of that unit ?

I am not arguing . I merely would like you to try to identify what you or others on the Board ( or your lawyer ) think may be the right or duty or legal heading under which to intervene where legal obligations to the HOA are not in at default ?

The HOA supplies and pays for the water. There are no individual meters. The inside water is city water, and the water for the lawns is supplied by a HOA owned well. The way I see it, we are not interfering with the landowner/tenant relationship, the landlord is interfering in HOA business. I am leaning towards doing nothing now, but if it happens in the future and we are sued by a tenant, we will simply tell the tenant the landlord has no authority to shut off the water. I just wasn't sure that was the best way to approach it.

If your understanding is correct, then unauthorized tampering with common element controls -whether water, electricity, natural gas etc - should require a landlord's prior written request to and approval by the HOA including responsibility for costs of legal review, and possibly waiver/ hold harmless. Why not have such controlled access provision or flat-out prohibition considered by a lawyer to isolate the HOA from a unit owner's dangerous/illegals ?

Mike

This not your decision to make and the advice could well be incorrect.

If you need to know, then run it by your HOA attorney so you do know but still do not play lawyer.

Do not go looking for things for the association to stick its nose in. There will be enough things you must do versus what you believe should be done.

MikeB15,

1. Re the water shut off “key” that you referred to – it is somewhat as LarryB described it. We refer to it as a “Curb Stop Key Wrench”. If you “google” those words you will see pictures of what that wrench looks like – there are a number of varieties.

If your set up is anything like ours, the Association should have a correct style and length key wrench, on premises, for use in an emergency.

Also you should know the exact valve location on the property, where the cover is, that has to be removed first, so that, that long handled key wrench can be inserted to reach the mechanism to turn.

2. For my Association, Condominium, the curb stop in ground valve(s) which connect to the “City Water” are owned by the Association, and it is the Association’s responsibility to repair and replace those “valves” along with the underground water pipe from the curb stop valve into the building, where we have another “inside” shut off valve.

3. From what you wrote, since an individual Unit could be shut off, it sounds like each Unit has an individual water line into the Unit.

Also you used the terms HOA and Townhome. Since Townhome, Townhouse, can also be Condominiums – which type of Association is yours? Are all 27 Units in the same building, or are there a number of buildings?

4. Depending, to be sure “who owns what”, you probably should carefully read how the “Unit” is described in YOUR Documents, paying particular attention to all references to “pipes”. And also to the definition of Common, and in particular, to what is considered Limited Common Elements, if applicable.

Well said!

May I suggest getting a copy of the plat for your development? That should provide answers as to what real estate is deeded to each owner and what communally-owned property (aka common area) is set aside for each owner's exclusive use. Even if the water valve is located on property deeded to an owner you will probably find the association (or utility companies in general) have an easement for the water lines. The easement would give you authority to go onto deeded property should you need to turn the water valve on or off.