Live in a home governed by a condominium, co-op orhomeowner's association? Have questions about what they can and cannot do? Ryan Poliakoff, an attorney and author based in Boca Raton, has answers.
Question: Recently, I discovered a water leak in the fire sprinkler in my condominium. The leak was from a faulty pipe fitting. Our association informed me it is my responsibility to have the leak fixed. The basis for their decision is that fire sprinkler and piping are not common elements of the condominium and are therefore not their responsibility. The association documents are silent with respect to the fire sprinkler system. However, the documents specify that utilities are common elements and that the association is responsible for their maintenance.
I hope you can shed some light on this issue. Signed, N.G.
Dear N.G.,
This is one of those issues that is going to be entirely governed by the language in your declaration of condominium; and while I can’t evaluate it for you without reviewing the entire document, I can give you some guidance on what to look for. First, you need to look at the section describing the boundaries of the unit, and the definition of “common elements.” The vast majority of the time the boundaries of a condominium unit are the unfinished interior surfaces of the perimeter walls, ceiling and floor. So, the paint and flooring inward is part of the unit, and the perimeter drywall, ceiling and concrete floor is a common element. However, I have seen rare circumstances where the definitions differ, so you do have to check to make sure.
Once you’ve established the unit boundaries, look for the section describing the relative maintenance responsibilities of the association and the unit owner. Some are written better than others, but it will most likely say that the association maintains the common elements, and you maintain everything within your unit. But there are always exceptions. For example, an association will typically be responsible for structural walls, even if they are within your unit boundaries.
Plumbing and utility lines are often dealt with separately. Sometimes there will be explicit language regarding “utilities” as there are in your own documents, and other times it will simply say that all pipes in a particular area are the association’s responsibility.
And it’s not uncommon for a declaration to differentiate between pipes that serve only a single unit and pipes that serve more than one unit (or the entire building). It can be a complicated analysis, and it might be in your best interest to hire an attorney who can give you an opinion about the sprinkler pipe in your unit. With that said, you describe a pipe that is almost certainly inside a wall. If it’s inside a perimeter wall, I would expect that to be outside of your unit, and therefore a common element. If it’s inside an interior wall, that’s a closer call — it’s part of the unit, and it could very well be that it only serves your own sprinklers; and in that situation it’s quite possible that it is in fact your responsibility.
With all of that said, I am personally very hesitant to recommend to condominium clients that they allow owners to maintain any aspect of a building’s fire sprinkler system, even if the declaration is ambiguous regarding that responsibility. This is inherently a life-safety issue. Work done on one pipe within a fire sprinkler system can affect the entire system — if your repair fails, not only will high pressure water flood your unit, but it will damage the below units and disable the fire sprinkler system entirely. That could require the building to be on fire watch.
So, unless the responsibility is unambiguously the owner’s, I usually prefer our clients to handle sprinkler repairs themselves, even if an argument could be made otherwise.
Question: Our condominium recently voted to update the bylaws and declaration to bring it in line with current law and circumstances. I noticed that some of the unit designations in the amended document had been changed from their former identification to another new format. It is my understanding that the unit designations are not only for internal use but are used by taxing and property authorities, as well; and that if they are changed in the documents then they no longer coincide with the identities used by those authorities. I expect that this redesignation was done improperly and must be restored to the identifications originally established when the condo was created. Signed, J.R.
Dear J.R.,
I have dealt with several condominiums where unit designations were changed by amendment, and it never seemed to affect the property appraiser records. I suspect that the property appraiser goes mostly by the folio number, which will always be part of the legal description in any deed and never changes. So, even if the unit description were to change, the folio assigned to that unit would not.
I don’t know if the property appraiser will eventually update its records to match the new unit designations, or if that matters, but I doubt that your situation is as catastrophic as you fear. Mostly it’s going to be an annoyance when people are referring to certain units by both the old and new designation, and you need to constantly refresh your recollection as to which unit you are talking about.
Ryan Poliakoff, a partner at Poliakoff Backer, LLP, is a Board Certified specialist in condominium and planned development law. This column is dedicated to the memory of Gary Poliakoff. Ryan Poliakoff and Gary Poliakoff are co-authors of "New Neighborhoods — The Consumer’s Guide to Condominium, Co-Op and HOA Living." Email your questions to condocolumn@gmail.com. Please be sure to include your location.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Who must pay to fix a leaking fire sprinkler pipe in my condo?
