Water meter - common element?

In our condo association water meters are housed in underground vaults but there are two meters in each vault. Over the winter one owners meter froze and they hired a plumber to thaw it out for them. The other meter in the vault did not freeze.

The owner believes her meter froze because the association landscaper must have hit it with a mower and knocked the cover off. Based on this and the fact that the vault would be considered a common element due to serving more than one unit she is arguing that the association needs to reimburse her plumbing bill. Most of my board wants to reimburse the expense because it’s the right thing to do. I’m stuck on the fact that the water meter itself isn’t a common element and we have no responsibility for the meter itself.

Our documents are silent on the specific issue but generally state that single benefit is an owner responsibility, multiple unit benefit is association responsibility.

Thoughts on how you would move forward?

Chris,

Based on the language you provided, that action was clearly the homeowners responsibility.
It could have been children that knocked the cover off. Bottom line is, nobody knows how the cover became dislodged.

I would think that the meter housing would belong to the water company (that's how it works in VA).

Does the Association maintain a well and distribute the water?

Keep in mind anything you do may be setting precedence and open all sorts of claims in the future.

My suggestion, have the Board respond that the governing documents clearly specify that maintenance is the responsibility of the owner, cite the passage, deny the request and move on. More then likely the member will be disgruntled but won't look to the courts to seek their plumber bill.

There is another consideration... If it was the lawncare people, they have their own insurance. The claim would not go on the HOA but on the Lawncare company. Which this owner would have to prove.

Typically our rule of thumb is anything from the Street to the meter is HOA/City responsibility. Anything from the meter to the house is the homeowner's responsibility. The meter is on their property and runs to their home.