community association managers should begin educating themselves and their boards in 2020. Why? Because this new legislation will have a
ARTICLE BY ALLISON ANDERSEN
Te community association industry has finally become concerned with the condition of multifamily residential housing. Initially, the apprehension was directed toward properly reserving for the maintenance and repair of aging building components. More recently, however, building maintenance concerns have given way to life-safety concerns.
In 2015, the catastrophic
failure of a balcony at an apartment building in Berkeley left six people dead and seven more injured. Te failure was attributed to severe decay and dry rot of the wooden structural members of the balcony. Remarkably, the building was only ten years old.
In 2018, State Senator Jerry Hill sponsored Senate Bill 721, which sought to impose considerable new inspection and repair requirements on both apartment owners and condominium associations. Te bill required owners and associations to visually inspect at least fifteen percent (15 %) of each type of exterior load bearing component, including balconies, decks, porches, stairways, walkways and entry structures, every six years.
If the inspection
revealed a threat to the safety of the occupants and/or the necessity for immediate repairs, then the occupants would be denied access and the owners or association were required to take immediate corrective measures. If repairs were necessary, but did not constitute an emergency, then the owners or associations would have one hundred and eighty (180) days to complete the repair.
While SB 721 had laudable goals, the one hundred and eighty (180) day repair period was inconsistent with the manner in which community associations budget for long-term maintenance and repair requirements. Simply put, associations would have extraordinary difficulty specially assessing its members and
performing repairs within the six month deadline. Senator Hill agreed to remove condominium associations from the legislation, but it was only on the condition that CAI take affirmative action to address the safety issues associated with wooden exterior load bearing components in condominiums buildings.
CAI fulfilled its commitment by drafting and supporting Senate Bill 326.
Although many “interested parties” contributed to final language of the statute, Civil Code section 5551 reaffirms the industry’s commitment to safety while allowing association members to financially plan for the associated expenses. Unfortunately, the final language of the statute places unprecedented inspection requirements on communities that will drastically increase the cost of compliance. While the new law certainly serves its purpose, the financial outfall may be so great as to warrant amendments to the statute.
Te condominium infrastructure law requires that every nine years, association boards retain a licensed structural engineer or architect to perform a visual inspection of the “exterior elevated elements” for which the association has maintenance or repair responsibilities to determine whether the elements are in a generally safe condition and performing in accordance with applicable standards. More specifically, the inspections will include those load building components that “extend beyond the exterior walls of the building to deliver structural loads to the building from decks, balconies, stairways, walkways, and their railings, that have a walking surface elevated more than six feet above ground level, that are designed for human occupancy
17
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
