Consequences of Charging Back Limited Common Element Repair Costs to Homeowners

November 7, 2024

If the costs associated with the maintenance and repair of Limited Common Elements are charged back to the homeowners, several significant problems arise:

• Financial Strain on Fixed Incomes: Homeowners on fixed incomes, such as Social Security, may be unable to afford necessary repairs. This could lead to neglect of damaged or broken items, worsening the problem and resulting in more expensive repairs once the issue is eventually discovered.
• Loss of Resource Pooling Benefits: The benefits and protection of pooling resources to maintain our building will no longer exist. Only homeowners who can afford repairs will manage them at their own expense, leading to uneven maintenance and potential deterioration of the community's overall condition.
• Financially Overwhelming: If a limited common element repair is identified by management and completed without homeowner consent, the resulting chargeback may overwhelm the homeowner's financial ability to afford living at Bremer Way, potentially forcing the sale of their unit.
• Unpaid Charges and Legal Issues: Unaffordable repair charges added to a homeowner's ledger may go unpaid, creating a situation where the ledger snowballs out of control with added legal fees and late charges. This puts the homeowner in a precarious position, potentially requiring legal assistance to save their home.
• Contribution to Homelessness: The Bremer Way Board of Directors and Management will no longer be providing senior housing; instead, they will be contributing to the already growing homeless crisis by potentially forcing financially strapped homeowners out of their units.
• Breaking Long-standing traditions: This situation breaks the long-standing agreements with homeowners who bought their units believing in the promise of "Maintenance-Free Living."
• Undermines the benefits of senior housing: It undermines the benefits of living in a 55+ retirement community and the marketability of Bremer Way to seniors. The same issues of homeownership maintenance will exist in a condo community, but the homeowner will no longer have a say or control over when and how repairs are completed.
• Undermines confidence in Covenants: Calls into question all aspects of our governing documents that are not explicit enough to withstand an attorney's challenge, and destroys confidence in the value of clearly stated Association responsibilities.

Charging back these costs to homeowners would create significant financial and operational challenges, ultimately compromising the integrity and sustainability of the community.