Common Elements for HOA

Started by BethO • 5 replies • 1824 views

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BethO (South Carolina)
Posts: 1

Posted:

I manage a HOA that was built in the 70s. I have one unit where the exterior wall is not plumb. The fasteners to plate (shoe) have failed and wall has moved. I had repairmen remove baseboard and sheetrock and checked for rot. There was no rotten wood found. The repairman then made repairs and pushed the wall back in place. The wall is now secure but is not 100% plumb. Would the HOA be responsible to rebuild this wall or is repair acceptable?

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Beth,

There is not enough information given for good advise.

Is this a condo, townhouse unit or single family homes?
Does your governing documents address who is responsible for the wall?
Was the repairman licensed?
Were permits needed for the work (since it was an exterior wall I expect they were)?

Expecting that the wall was the responsibility of the HOA, the work was done by a licensed crew, any permits/inspections were gotten as needed, then the repair work should be acceptable.

Tim

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

Just how far out of plumb is the wall and is it out of plumb on both sides or did the repairman shim it on the H/O side to give them a plumb wall? Does the repair meet code and did the Building Department sign off on it? Since it is a load bearing wall a building permit should have been required.

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MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Beth,

Whether the HOA was resp. for fixing this wall should have been checked into b/4 any work was done. Your gov docs should give you the answer to your question, mainly who is resp. for the exterior walls of the building.

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

Beth,
I will guess and say this is a condo.
Had something like that happen in my unit. It has to be a management (Board) call who should pay for what. In my case the Board (and it went to the Board) decided that had the responsibility to make the structural repairs. What caused the wall to shift. Of course this is subject to discussionn what all this entails, but bottom line some compromise has to be made. The board was willing to listen, made a fair assessment considering and our differences may have been $50.00. They did their thing, informed me when they were done, I had the same guy do the cosmetics on the drywall cracks at the seams and repaint. Move on, it is no big deal considering the difference of opinion.

As an aside this kind of decisions the Board has to make, like it or not, if given a little consideration the differences could be small.

As far as the out of plumb issue, I don't think anyone can solve that for the Board. It is the Boards decision, especially if to correct this defect will require structural changes. Probably small, but none the less. Ideally the wall, drywall should have been replaced and plumbed. Is it important, if so, get the guy that put the dry wall back. Am I right, I have no idea, just an opinion.

HelenK1 (Washington)
Posts: 68

Posted:

A building that old will have some settling and probably was not 100% plumb in the first place. There is a wide range under not 100%. How off is it? Work on the structure would most likely be the associations responsibility but that needs to be pre-approved by the board. Most boards do not like homeowners initiating their own repairs and then sending bills to the association because something like this could really get out of hand if all homeowners start doing this.

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