G.V. from Tampa, Florida writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
Is my deck common area if the condo board has not paid me for it? I had it built and payed for it myself.
Mister Condo replies:
G.V., the short answer is “it depends”. What it depends upon is how the agreement worked back when you installed the deck. Typically, decks that are attached to single units are either unit owner-owned or limited common elements. There is no hard and fast rule about this so you will likely need to go back and find the original permission to add the deck and see how it was worded back then. If the original agreement can’t be found, there may be no way to determine what type of addition this was. You can also search your governance documents which may, in fact, spell out who owns a deck attached to a single unit. I would hazard a guess that the deck may be a limited common element that the Board allowed you to install and agree to maintain in perpetuity. If that is the case, it is yours to use and maintain but is, in fact, property of the association, which would matter for liability and insurance purposes. All the best!
This subject almost caused my wife of 44 years to divorce me. We live in a very lovely building in Aventura Florida, and my wife keeps plants out on the balcony. Our children are gone and these plants are her new babies. Well, the ivy started to grow and she wrapped it around the railings of the balcony. We soon got a letter from the management telling us that we could not put anything on the railing. As a community association manager I quickly understood the concept of “proprietary common area” and asked my wife to please cut back the ivory.
She was so angry that she wanted to storm down to the office of the building and lodge a protest with the manager. I asked her to take a few deep breaths and let me explain. The breaths did not work but a good glass of Sauvignon blanc did the trick. I was not going to convince her with rules, regulations, by-laws and rules so I had to give her a reasonable presentation. We do not “Mansplain” in my house so I had to give a thoughtful presentation.
I asked her if she thought that her vines enhanced the look of the building from the outside. She responded, “they certainly do.” I asked her if everybody did the same would it be beneficial to the building’s look and appeal. “of course it would” she said. Then I asked her if she hung a wet beach towel on the balcony to dry and if everybody else did likewise would that be a good look? Being a very bright woman she realized the concept of “proprietary common area” and our marriage was saved.
Great story, Mitch. Thanks for sharing!
Great story, Mitch. Thanks for sharing!