All Forum Posts by: Cary Lin

Thanks for the replies. When I spoke with our HOA and HOA's attorney (I actually did an ADR), they claimed:

1. There is no way garage door is HOA's responsibility. The president said "because I said so."

2. HOA also claimed they never read the Master Deed, but their attorney did and she told them garage door is owner's responsibility.

3. The president also claimed that maybe (yes, he said maybe without any concrete proof because he said he said how my tenant drives and she always had to go back and forth a few times to get into garage) it was my tenant who hit the garage door and damaged it. They completely ignored the fact that the door was hit from outside in, not inside out. So even if my tenant did it, there would be no way for her car to be removed without completely removing the garage door first. Also, as far as I can tell, even if the person who damages the garage door is someone related to me, the association should still be responsible to replace it, but, they do reserve the right to charge me for the cost. Am I right about this?

Hi fellow bigpocketers, I have a question on, to me, a weird interpretation of what a garage contains from our condo association in NJ. Our condo contains a 2-car garage that our unit can go into directly. However, according to our By-Law/Master Deed, Garage is considered a part of "Limited Common Elements".

Specifically, from our Master Deed: The Limited Common Elements of the condominium shall include any deck, patio, stairs, or garage to which there is direct access to that unit which is appurtenant to same, or any car port to which a Unit has been assigned....These Limited Common Elements are reserved for the use of the Unit(s) either immediately adjacent thereto or for the use of Units to which they have been assigned, to the exclusion of all other Units....Any expenses of repair or replacement relating to said Limited Common Elements, or involving structural maintenance, repair or replacement, shall be the responsibility of the Association, excepting for costs necessitated by negligence, misuse, or neglect of the Unit by a Unit Owner.

One day, someone (not anyone I know) likely backed into our garage and crashed the garage doors. There was no video or anything indicating who did this. After I reported this to our Association, believing they should be replacing the garage door, Association's attorney told me Garage door is owner's responsibility. She completely ignored the above section specifically defining the responsibility on Limited Common Elements. The attorney continued to tell me that doors are the responsibility of the Unit owner.

Does this make any sense?

I would suggest to take a look at Traveler's. They have this deductible reduction feature you can buy (~$30 a year for me). Basically, every year you go with out a claim, you gain $100 that may be used for future deductible when you open a claim. Their rates are also among the lowests, not the lowest, but they are there.

We are in northern NJ and am looking to add a second floor to a cape cod house. I have spoken to a few subcontractors, but for demo/framing and plumbing, I couldn't find someone to give us rough estimate of the cost. If anyone has any referral and don't mind sharing, please let me know.