Academy/HOA & Community Association 101
What is association responsibility vs owner responsibility?
Who fixes it when something breaks, and why "my unit" and "my problem" aren't always the same thing.
By default, the association maintains common elements (halls, roofs, grounds) and each owner maintains their own unit's interior. But this is only a fallback: the declaration can reassign specific items, like windows or HVAC units, either direction. Check your declaration before assuming who's responsible for a repair.
The default rule
Every declaration draws a line between two categories of property: common elements (the halls, the roof, the grounds, the pool) and units (what an owner actually owns). The default rule assigns maintenance along that same line. A leaking roof over the whole building is a common element repair, the association's job. A cracked tile inside your own kitchen is your unit, your job.
"the association has the duty to provide for the maintenance, repair and replacement of the common elements, and each unit's owner has the duty to provide for the maintenance, repair and replacement of his or her unit."
Source: NRS 116.3107, Nevada Legislature
This is Nevada's numbering; look up the equivalent maintenance provision in your own state's common-interest statute.
Why your declaration might override it
The statute itself opens with "Except to the extent provided by the declaration," which makes this a fallback, not a fixed rule. Declarations routinely move specific items across the line, in either direction, from what the default would assign.
Windows, exterior doors, and HVAC condensers are common examples that get reassigned one way or the other from community to community. Which items your declaration moves, and which direction, is different for every association. Read your declaration's maintenance section before you bill anyone for a repair.
The gray zone: limited common elements
A balcony attached to one unit, or an assigned parking space, is neither a common element nor part of a unit. It's a limited common element: common property carved out for one owner's exclusive use.
"a portion of the common elements allocated by the declaration... for the exclusive use of one or more but fewer than all of the units."
Source: NRS 116.059, Nevada Legislature
Because it's still legally common property, the association typically keeps the underlying maintenance obligation, even though only one owner benefits. An owner who assumes "exclusive use" means "my repair bill" is often wrong, unless the declaration explicitly shifts that duty to them.
Who decides how the repair gets done
Even once responsibility is clear, the board still has to pick a method: patch or replace, cheap fix or full overhaul. Courts generally don't second-guess that choice.
"courts should defer to the board's authority and presumed expertise."
Source: Lamden v. La Jolla Shores Clubdominium Homeowners Assn., Supreme Court of California
That protection is conditional, not automatic. Skip the investigation, act in bad faith, or step outside the board's actual authority, and the deference disappears.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A pipe bursts inside the walls of a condo unit, damaging only the interior drywall. Under the default rule, who's responsible?
An owner's patio is a limited common element, hers alone to use. She assumes she must fix a crack in it herself. What does the default rule actually say?
A board patches a roof instead of replacing it, after investigating both options in good faith. An owner sues, arguing the board chose wrong. What does the business judgment rule say?
Sources
- Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 116, Common-Interest Ownership (Uniform Act), Nevada Legislature
- Lamden v. La Jolla Shores Clubdominium Homeowners Assn., 21 Cal.4th 249 (Cal. 1999), Supreme Court of California
HOA & Community Association 101
Next, see exactly what your association owns, and how that ownership shapes every maintenance call above.
Whether the association or the owner covers a specific item (windows, patios, HVAC units, exterior doors) varies by state statute and by your own declaration's maintenance section.