Who's Responsible to Fix Rotting Beam in Ceiling of Back Porch

[MACondoOwner]

My question involves a condominium located in the State of: Massachusetts

I am a condo owner in a triple decker located in Massachusetts. There is a beam in the ceiling above my back porch that is rotting from what appears to be water damage. This rotting board has caused water to come down onto our back porch, which has in turn rotted out part of our railing.

I'm not sure who is responsible for the rotting board that's in the ceiling above my porch. This issue was raised during our home inspection back in 2010 and the board was replaced before we bought the condo, but I never got a clear answer as to who's responsibility this was, since we were the first buyers.

• Is that my responsibility because I can see it and it's considering my ceiling?
• Is it Unit 2's responsibility because their porch is resting on this board?
• Is this considering a common expense because it's part of the "structure" of the porch?

I should also mention that I have not inspected Unit 2's porch and do not know if there is damage/loose board on their porch which is causing water to leak through and rot out the beam underneath.

I have a copy of my condo bylaws, building plans as well as a picture of the damage that I can send along if someone has any insight on this matter. Any help would be much appreciated. I don't think it will be a problem to fix this; I just am not sure where the responsibility lies.

[Mr. Knowitall]

We have no access to any of the documentation that would allow us to analyze the issue for you. The best "off the cuff" response I can make is that the person or entity who paid for the repair last time around is probably the person or entity responsible for the cost of repair this time around.

[MACondoOwner]

I can provide condo docs, pictures and plans for this to provide more information to anyone that can take a look. I didn't want to post them in forum here

The last time this happened, it was paid for by the contractors that were offering the home warranty and this was done as part of the punch-list prior to closing on the condo. Our warranty has expired, so they wouldn't be covering this now.

Please let me know if I can send you the links via a Private Message