Q. I live in a condominium association where the rules provide that all tenants must share in expenses to maintain “common areas.” I have no issue with contributing to maintain areas like the pool, the roof and the parking lot.
The current issue concerns those of us who live on the first floor and who have no balconies. Because the rules include the balconies as “common areas,” we have been “special assessed” our proportionate share for their major repairs. To make matters worse, the assessment for some large apartments without balconies on the first floor is higher than for some smaller apartments with balconies on higher floors. Can this be done?
A. Most condominium bylaws require unit owners to pay common charges and assessments proportionate to their share of ownership of the “common elements” of the condominium, said Steven D. Sladkus, a Manhattan co-op and condo lawyer.
While balconies are typically defined as “limited common elements” because unit owners have exclusive use of them, most condo bylaws provide that any structural or extraordinary repairs or replacements to such elements are charged to all the unit owners as a common expense.
Thus, the letter writer will in all likelihood have to pay the special assessment for major repairs to the balconies.
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