A.F. from outside of Connecticut writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
On the limited common area behind my home, a tall retaining wall runs behind 4 of the 48 cottages in our condo development. The Board of our POA wants to reassign responsibility for a portion of that wall to each of us. Two problems: it is a retaining wall, which is a structural support for our homes, plus my insurance agent says that homeowners and liability policies sold to condo owns do NOT cover any thing in or on limited common or common areas. Can the board assign responsibility for something that homeowners cannot insure for?
Mister Condo replies:
A.F., the Board can try and you can fight back with a lawsuit if necessary. While I have no particular knowledge of your governing documents or your state’s laws on common interest real estate, I sincerely doubt the Board can legally reassign any common element, limited or otherwise, to an individual or group of individual unit owners. Such a change, if possible, would likely require a supermajority of unit owners to agree and would basically require a rewriting of the incorporation and governing documents. Neither of these is easy and would involve the services of an attorney specialized in common interest communities. I offer no legal advice in this column but I would strongly suggest you speak with a locally qualified attorney to seek legal advice should the Board decide to push through this measure. All the best!