Citing previous owners to closed violations to deny repairs

I have some loose balcony rails that are completely unhinged. I understand they are hoa responsibility so I asked for them to fix. They sent a contractor turns out there is dry rot around the whole balcony from the rails not being maintained. But they refuse to fix cause they said the previous owners got letters about watering plants on the balcony and they so they said the damage is caused by that. I think they are just using that as an excuse to not pay the cost. The house was prob vacant since April so I'm not sure how long ago the violations were but the there were no violations disclosed in escrow. I had a contractor look at the balcony and they said it's just poor design, improper drainage and railing maintenance neglect. Nothing was disclosed in escrow and the law amendments to the Davis Stirling Act say HOAs are responsible.

What recourse do I have if they want to arbitrarily assign fault?