Evaluating Condo’s Condition Isn’t Dependent on Common Area

Question: What’s the point of having a home inspection when you buy a condominium? Typically, everything from the drywall out is common property, owned collectively by all members of the homeowners association. If I am buying into a 100-unit complex, I am buying 1/100th of all drywall, studs, slabs, roof and grounds (grass, plants, pools, etc).

I am buying 100% of the airspace in my condo, but I have an interest in the condition of the remainder of the complex, yet these aren’t even included in the inspection. Therefore, what good is an inspection of 1/100th of what I am buying?

Answer: When you buy a condominium, you hire a home inspector to find conditions that directly affect the function and safety of your immediate living area. You also have a financial interest in the maintenance of common areas, but this has less impact on you directly.

The projected costs of common property maintenance, including upkeep of the grounds, painting of the exterior, eventual roof replacement, etc., are paid by your monthly membership fees.

If a professional reserve study of these costs has been conducted, then the maintenance moneys set aside for needed repairs should be adequate and neither you nor your home inspector should be concerned in that regard.

With that clarified, we can set aside common area concerns and focus on the primary purpose and benefit of a condominium home inspection.

Within the confines of your privately owned condo space are numerous fixtures and components whose operation and safety can significantly affect your life and finances. These include the electrical wiring and the operational condition of outlets, lights and switches. They include the safe operation of interior heating, hot water fixtures and the combustible fuel systems that may be associated with such equipment.

Other concerns considered by your condo inspector include the plumbing fixtures, windows, doors, cabinets, fireplace, air conditioning, kitchen range, dishwasher, sinks, toilets, tubs and showers.

Additionally, an inspector will consider exterior conditions that directly affect your unit, even though these are common areas of the property, managed by the association.

These would include the exterior walls and trim, patios and decks, porches and entry stairs, roofing conditions, exterior electrical and plumbing conditions and parking structures, for example.

As with any home inspection, whether the dwelling is a separate living unit or a condominium, the purpose of the inspection process is to protect the interests of buyers. Even with a condo, the more you know about your prospective purchase, the better your interests will be protected.

Drainage Under New Home Worries Buyers

Q: Our new home under construction already has a drainage problem. Ground water flows into the basement whenever it rains. The builder installed a ground drainage system and maintains that it will adequately address the problem. But seepage still occurs.

The builder says this is normal and insists that we complete the transaction without further corrective work.

This is going to be our retirement home, so we don’t want to deal with water problems after moving in.

What can we do to insure that there will be no future drainage problems?

A: You need a professional drainage specialist--a geotechnical engineer. Formally educated in the science of ground drainage, a geotechnical engineer can evaluate subsurface water problems from a geological perspective and design a mitigation system in accordance with those findings.

Don’t let the builder’s assurances deter you from protecting yourself in this way. Solving the problem with absolute certainty today will provide you with a more enjoyable retirement, tomorrow and for the foreseeable future.

If the builder is unwilling to fully address the problem, refuse to close escrow until you and your drainage specialist are satisfied. After you have an engineering report, show it to the local building official and insist that final approval of the construction be withheld until the drainage problem is corrected. If the building department is doing a proper job of enforcing building standards and protecting the public, they should regard drainage corrections as essential to completion of the project.

As a final precaution, be sure to have the property evaluated by a professional home inspector before closing escrow. A qualified inspector will find additional defects that slip through the cracks of the construction and building inspection processes.

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If you have questions or comments, contact Barry Stone through his Web site at https://www.housedetective.com. Distributed by Access Media Group.