Pennsylvania HOA Townhouse Community

I live in an Homeowner Community of townhouses. Owners have a deed to their house and to the plot of land on which the building stands. Maintenance is all the homeowners responsibility with some exceptions.

While the Homeowner Association was built in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Declaration was amended in 2003 and exterior elements maintenance items were added as the Association's responsibility as a common expense. These items are Siding, Roofs, Gutters, and Downspouts.

Some homes were built with rooms in the attic space and most of these attic lofts have skylights. Previous roof replacements (the roofs are tar paper and asphalt shingles) never included skylights except for maintaining and/or replacing the flashing as part of the roofing system. Skylight replacement (and Windows) have always been considered a Homeowner responsibility.

The current HOA board has contracted a roofing company to replace the roofs but this time, they have included the skylights in the contract. The Board still considers the Skylights a Homeowner responsibility regarding payment. The roofing contractor is requiring that the homeowners buy new skylights from them at a significant markup over their retail price and is limiting the selection to only two models. Owners who do not agree to buying the skylights from the contractor are being told that the contractor will remove their skylights and board up the openings and roof over the area where the skylight was located at a cost of $180 per skylight removal. The Board is supporting this action and have accompanied the contractor when individual owners are being personally told that they don't have an option of keeping their old skylights and must buy replacements from the HOA's roofing contractor.

I am trying to understand the legal framework. If skylights are a homeowner responsibility, what legal basis does the board have in hiring a contractor for the skylight replacement. If the board is considering skylights part of the roofing system (which in 30 years, it has never been defined this way), I can accept the board including the skylights in the roofing contract but I do not understand demanding individual owners pay for the skylights at the Board's negotiated rates.

Since you are in a time crunch, I would recommend contracting an attorney and have them send a cease and desist letter concerning the skylights. Otherwise, by the time you find answers on the web, it may be too late.

To me, it's a grey area because the roof was the responsibility of the owner and then became the responsibility of the Association.
As such, the Association may be in it's right to say no skylights. I don't know if they have a right to force replacement if the skylights are in working order (meaning no leaks).

The roofing company appears unwilling to install a new roof with multiple, aged, components that can reasonably be leak points once the existing roof is removed and replaced.

In a private, single home, one could argue that a skylight should be reviewed for seal integrity of the glass itself and certainly be re-flashed with the new roof. For a condo where the owners are partially "subsidized" for a new roof, a clear-cut option, as presented to the condo owners, seems appropriate. Those who don't want to buy a new skylight nor board-up the existing one, are creating potential leak hazards for the HOA and customer service issues for the roofer, who'll be blamed.

If you want a skylight, buy one. If you don't, board it up. One leak, from your old skylight portal, would exceed $180 in cost to yourself and the HOA.

If you want options, buy a single-family home so you can solely be responsible for maintenance issues caused by your maintenance decisions. In my experience with my personal home, one roofer demanded a new skylight in my house.....the competitor said the skylight was "fine" (it was) and that he'd install new flashing and keep the skylight. I chose to keep my existing skylight....but I had no HOA board to blame if my decision caused leaks.