Drains Clear; Situation Still Murky

QUESTION: After months of letter-writing and phone calls to our association’s property management company, my neighbors and I had to fix some common-area problems. Our complaints about clogged gutters and drains filled with rocks, weeds, dirt and other debris received no response from the manager.

Yesterday, a huge storm hit. Again, we called the manager and received no response. The water was 10 inches deep near the clogged drains, and both of my neighbors’ units could have been flooded. My neighbors and I got our rain gear and boots and cleared the drains.

What are our rights? In addition to getting the manager’s attention, I would like some compensation for doing management company work.

What advice can you give us?

ANSWER: First, your sole compensation is that warm feeling in your heart because you helped your neighbors. Don’t expect any monetary reward.

The other warm feeling that you experienced was your temperature rising because of anger and resentment against the manager.

However, if you had to purchase supplies or tools, you have the right to turn these items over to the association, along with your receipts, and request reimbursement from the association. You should have informed someone from the board or management company prior to purchasing supplies if you intended to get reimbursement.

Check with your board of directors to see if contracting for drain cleaning and gutter repairs has been on the board meeting agenda. Does the management contract provide for these kinds of services and emergency response?

Perhaps you were asking for something that is beyond the scope of the manager’s duties, but that does not excuse the lack of response. Board members should be informed about the lack of response, and then they can decide whether to complain to the manager’s supervisor or the owner of the company.

Any property manager who would ignore numerous phone calls and letters about this problem must be overworked or incompetent. Competent managers realize that they should return phone calls and letters as soon as possible.

Even if the manager could not provide an immediate solution, he or she should have responded to you and your neighbors.

For example, if the manager does not have authority to engage contractors, the only response needed would be that the matter has been placed on the board meeting agenda for action.

In case of emergency, the manager should contact the board president or other officer of the association who can authorize the emergency work.

More storms are on the way. If the association does not have procedures for the type of problem that you experienced, it is time for the board of directors to address this issue and adopt procedures.

Letter Is No Guarantee Work Will Be on Time

Q: I am purchasing a unit in a condominium association. The association sued the builder-developer for construction defects. The settlement agreement has been signed and work is progressing. I have a letter from the association’s attorney stating that the reconstruction work will be completed within nine months.

Is this letter legally binding? What recourse do I have if the work is not completed on schedule?

A: I doubt if the letter carries much weight. Reconstruction projects often run into delays because of bad weather or problems coordinating the schedules of various subcontractors. When this happens, the association can simply issue another letter explaining the reasons for the delay.

If you check the wording of the original letter, you will probably find some “wiggle room” or “weasel language,” as one association attorney said recently in a discussion of this subject.

You did not state the extent of the repairs or the amount of inconvenience that you will endure until the work is completed. It seems that if you like the unit and the association, you may have to take your chances.

Consult an attorney regarding the wording that can be inserted in the escrow instructions that might provide for penalties to be paid by the seller if repairs are not completed in a timely manner.

Bear in mind that your seller has no control over the repair schedule and, therefore, may not agree with any penalty that you propose.

Jan Hickenbottom is a community association management consultant and a founding director of the California Assn. of Community Managers. She selects questions of general interest for the column.. Send questions to: Condo Q&A;, Box 5068, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360.