Landscaping HOA responsibility

Started by KevinS20 • 7 replies • 423 views

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KevinS20 (California)
Posts: 1

Posted:

New to the forum.

Next to a home in our community is a patch of dirt about 3' x 20'. There are plants on it not maintained by the HOA.

The home has water damage likely caused by the groundwater entering the home due to a downward slope in the landscaping.

Our CC&Rs matrix says the HOA is responsible for the "Landscaping-Common" areas.

Is next to a home considered a common area making the HOA responsible for the damage?

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

Your CC&Rs should define what is common area (association responsibility) and what belongs to individual owners.

Are you in a condo or townhouse community? If so, that patch of land may be common area and the association should address the grading issue. If you're in an HOA with single family homes, the improperly graded area may belong to the owner of the home and thus his responsibility.

But double-check the CC&Rs, because in some townhouse communities, the owners of the townhouses may actually own the land underneath their units plus a few feet out from the perimeter - in which case the owner and the association would have to figure out where the dividing line is and how to approach re-grading.

(FWIW, I had a similar issue in with my home. The association paid for re-grading and installing a drain to route water away from the building, but I had to pay for mold remediation and repairs to the interior of my home. That's because mold is usually considered a maintenance issue, and owners pay for interior maintenance. At least in my community, it doesn't matter whether the problem originates in the common area, it's strictly who pays for what according to the CC&Rs. Other communities have handled this differently, although I'm not clear if their CC&Rs say that it should be handled differently or if their boards acted according to what they thought was "fair".)

WendyM5 (North Carolina)
Posts: 1,522

Posted:

ask the board for $40 so you can plant some grass seed
ask the board if you can get reimbursed for buying landscaping bushes to plant there
ask the board if you can buy errorsion cloth and put it down there

what do all the above have in common
Someone taking intiative instead of waiting for unpaid volunteers to do the work for them.

vis ta vie

TerriS6 (California)
Posts: 3,284

Posted:

If you can, go to the planning department that approved the project and look at the survey. Or, look up the deed on that property to get the property description to determine who owns the strip.

DouglasK1 (Florida)
Posts: 2,046

Posted:

Nobody here would know what specific pieces of land in your association are association owned (common area).

There should be a plat that defines the boundaries of all lots and common areas. Hopefully the board has a copy of this, otherwise they should be recorded at whatever city or county office keeps land records and a copy can be acquired from there. In my county they are freely available from the county registrars web site, some jurisdictions might require an email or trip to their office and a fee to provide records.

You might also be able to find a map at the property appraisers office web site that has enough detail to show where what property the association owns.

How close is this strip of land to the house? Do you know what the minimum setbacks are in your community? For example, if the set back has to be at least 10 feet, and this strip is within 10 feet of the house, it would be part of the homeowner's lot.

Escaped former treasurer and director of a self managed association.

ElleN (Idaho)
Posts: 4,420

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By KevinS20 on 06/26/2023 8:18 PM

The home has water damage likely caused by the groundwater entering the home due to a downward slope in the landscaping.

I am going to set aside who owns the 3' x 20' strip of land for the moment. I believe what's as important is who is responsible for drainage for the surrounding land. If the drainage is inadequate, then the owner with the damaged land may have a viable legal claim against whoever is not maintaining proper drainage.

One has to weigh things like the likelihood of this damage recurring; the role of all insurers here (which might be significant); the legal costs to argue about who is responsible for what. Sometimes just paying for a repair (instead of lawyering up) is the easiest way to rectify a situation. It might not be "just," but HOAs are terrible to engage in a war. It's a board of amateurs who are often unskilled, and who often direct the HOA attorney to take a stand that is really not right.

LetA (Nevada)
Posts: 2,679

Posted:

Look at your governing documents. there should be a copy of the plats included.If the plats are not in your
documents, look them your at your local recorders office. The plats will show you if the property in question
is a common element of privately owned.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Kevin

The first thing is to find out who "owns" it be it the homeowner or the HOA. Go from there.

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