Can The Property Manager Force Unit Owner To Pay For Repairs?

[ascher21]

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

Hi,

I 1/2 of a duplex condominium and share nearly every wall in every room with my neighbors. There seems to be no insulation in the walls, and the neighboring unit is rented to a very noisy, recently divorced family. Unfortunately we have been privy to much of their unpleasant lives due to what I believe to be lack of enough sound-proofing between units. There have been several letters to the unit owner and residents of the unit as well as the Property Management head.

The noise has been everywhere from fighting, slamming doors, and screaming to the little girl pounding on our shared wall at 12:12am on a school night to jumping on nearly every step as she runs up and down to the police arriving when the divorced mother came when not legally permitted to. They clearly have no respect for us.

I have decided to try to end my year-long misery by sound-proofing the wall. However, I find it hard to spend the money when I believe the owner of the unit who is renting ought to front some if not all the money to do so. After all, her tenants are the ones who have made it very hard for me to enjoy my home. They've really caused a lot of emotional turmoil for me--having to hear their lives on a daily basis.

Recently I got three estimates for sound-proofing the wall. I asked the property manager at our annual HOA meeting if she had the power to order the unit owner to pay for at least a portion, and she said she couldn't.

Is this true?? If it is, then this means we are paying for what I believe we've already well paid for with our quality of life?

I have no way of making sure she pays for this unless I go to small claims court?

[SChinFChin]

You didn't say how the soundproofing will be done. Is it something that goes INSIDE the existing walls??

Based on what I know, in most Condo ownership situations, onwership INSIDE the walls is community property, and the HOA is responsible. Condo ownership only goes UP to the outside of the walls. If the soundproofing goes ON TOP of the walls, on your side, then it is at your expense.

And the HOA cannot MAKE a unit owner spend money on community property, inside the walls. And the other unit owner can then argue that the condo is so porrly constructed that the HOA would have to spend money to repair.

If all unit owners have to chip in, I don't know how they feel about spending money on soundproofing just one unit, when it enhances just YOUR eventual property value. I wouldn't go for it.

[ascher21]

Actually, the work is to go inside the condo walls, and the HOA has said we can do anything we like if it makes the property nicer. I then asked our manager if it was ok to fill our walls with insulation, and she said that was fine.

What I'm very disappointed to hear is that the noise levels on the other side of the house and the turmoil caused by them isn't even a factor here. There seem to be a lot of rules protecting the renter, but not so many for condo owners. And this family that rents is not the same as was there when we bought. In fact, we had people in there who were so quiet I didn't even know when they were home.

I'm at a loss as to what to do if sound-proofing doesn't sound like a good idea to you, and my quality of life is terrible right now. We've only developed enough equity to pay for a realtor's selling fees, so "just moving" isn't an option.

What frightens me most is the noise levels are probably an inhibitor to selling the condo in the future. I certainly wouldn't have moved in if that was the family I'd heard when I toured the place. This is a nice neighborhood. We're talking about Fairfield, CT.

So a prospective buyer comes to the home to tour it, and then the police show up because the mother of the divorced family next door has broken in again when it wasn't her visiting time.

Nobody wants that. Certainly there's some grounds in their staying there decreasing my property value??

[SChinFChin]

A tenant of mine had a noise problem with a next store tenant, also a renter, at a condo complax. The problem was solved thru the HOA, as there were rules regarding quiet hours, among many other rules, something like a noise ordinance.

The procedure was to complain to he mangement company as well as the HOA, and after so many complaints, the owner, or in this case, the landlord, is hit with a fine. In our case, the fines for the offender was getting expensive, so the LL finally evicted the noisy tenants, several college girls, rooming together.

Figure out if there is such a rule, and if not, get one passed. It took a number of months to have them evicted, and fortunately, the very good tenant of ours stayed.

As to having the offender pay for the soundproofing, you can ask him directly yourself, and he might say yes. But if I was him, I would respond that I have no legal obligation to do so, particularly, since inside the walls is commom property, and the HOA should pay if they want to do so, particularly since the structure was built so flimsy.