Condo Maintenance Matrix

Does anyone on this forum use a condo maintenance matrix or a responsibility matrix that they can share.

A document that shows if this happens then it is owners responsibility, if this happens then it is association responsibility, such as plumbing.

I know it won't match up with our property, or our governing documents, but it would be a great start if anyone has one.

This is something your property manager should have.

Our PM years ago had no idea and lead us in the wrong direction costing us over $20,000 in non HOA responsible repairs in 1 year. It was their lack of knowledge that lead us to our attorney.

We've had 9 PM's and we are educating them to how things work. Our current PM is also lacking.

She does not, unfortunately. So we are starting from scratch.

And when asked if this is owner or association cost, the answer doesn't always match with the master deed.

Right now I think that the Association is both paying for things they shouldn't pay in some cases,
but also making owners pay for things, that is not the owners' responsibility and should be covered by the assessments that are budgeted for.

Ultimately a lawyer will have to check box which is COA responsibility and which is owner responsibility, but the first step is to create a list of possible issues that can happen, as best as we can, to start the process going, and then the lawyer to put them into the correct bucket of responsibility so it is clear.

A good example is a water leak that is being generated from an owner's unit, that the unit owner could not possibly be aware of standing within the walls of their unit.

We need to create a list of "what ifs" as best as we can. Hearing others condo board experiences helps this process.

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Master Deed Example below:
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"the following are common elements :

All pipes, ducts, electrical wiring' and conduits (except pipes, ducts, electrical wiring and conduits situated entirely within one Unit. and serving only such Unit);"

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Tennessee Condominium Act § 66-27-302
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Unit boundaries.
Except as provided by the declaration:
o (1) If walls, floors or ceilings are designated as boundaries of a unit, all lath, furring, wallboard, plasterboard, plaster, paneling, tiles, wallpaper, paint, finished flooring, and any other materials constituting any part of the finished surfaces of the walls, floor or ceilings are a part of the unit, and all other portions of the walls, floors, or ceilings are a part of the common elements;
o (2) If any chute, flue, duct, wire, conduit, bearing wall, bearing column, or any other fixture lies partially within and partially outside the designated boundaries of a unit, any portion of the chute, flue, duct, wire, conduit, bearing wall, bearing column, or other fixture serving only that unit is a limited common element allocated solely to that unit, and any portion of the chute, flue, duct, wire, conduit, bearing wall, bearing column, or other fixture serving more than one (1) unit or any portion of the common elements is a part of the common elements;
o (3) Subject to subdivision (2), all spaces, interior partitions, and other fixtures and improvements within the boundaries of a unit are a part of the unit; and
o (4) Any shutters, awnings, window boxes, doorsteps, stoops, porches, balconies, patios, and all exterior doors and windows or other fixtures designed to serve a single unit, but located outside the unit's boundaries, are limited common elements allocated exclusively to that unit.

That is an interesting point.
Adding in a third column of what insurance policy does it fall under.

Adding a new column nonetheless if it is covered by COA insurance or owner's insurance if there is a claim.

The insurance policy doesn't mean it is one hundred percent inline with our governing documents. But it is a good column to add.

For example, the insurance company for our association just paid out for hvacs for 50+- units,
even though on a responsibility schedule, if someone's hvac stops working in normal circumstance it is the owners responsibility to repair it, not the associations

I would put a disclaimer on any Matrix that the HOA is not responsible for any mistakes nor errors. You do not want to be assigning responsibility to the wrong party.

Our Board just approved a maintenance Matrix for our multi-story condos. It will be an Exhibit at the back of our restated CC&Rs that we hope to get approved by Owners early next year.

We already had everything spelled out in our current (original 20 y.o.) CC&Rs. We also has a matrix crafted by an insurance agent based on his reading of our CC&Rs. But the New Matrix will be much easier to read than our CC&Rs sections.

Our HOA attorney created it based on one his firm had done for a similar high rise with almost identical CC&Rs built by our developer. I'm unable to copy it. It's part of the oral very reasonable fee we're paying for the rewrite of our CC&Rs & Bylaws.

The left column is "Improvement" to its right are several columns "Clean"; "Maintain"; "Repair"; "Replace"; "Paint;" Resurface;" "Repave."

An A for Association or an O for Owner is in each column box.

Under the Improvement, "Exterior of doors on the exterior boundaries of the Residential Unit. There is an A for every column that applies, i.e, clean, maintain, repair, replace, paint. This is based solely on the verbiage in our CC&Rs.

The interior of those same doors are marked O for every category also based solely on our CC&Rs.

We have 15 items on the list.

Right, Janine, your HOA attorney must confirm your selections. Probably the trickiest ones are limited use common areas, if you have them.

Be careful with insurance - it will depend on the type you carry. We have all-included insurance, which covers repairs to portions of the units *if there was an insurable event* such as a fire. For routine maintenance, those same portions are the owner's responsibility.

Very good advice.
I found a couple of good disclaimers online on other condo maintenance matrix examples that provide wording.

Ultimately though we will put it in the hands of an attorney once we create the list of scenarios, so our hands are clean.

So who is the right party and who determine that?