Board asks owners to remove approved stairwell door

Q: I recently purchased a condominium. When I purchased the unit, there was a door to the stairwell, a limited common element, that had been approved by the homeowners' association by the prior owner of my unit. This kind of door is also on several other units in the complex and the disclosure statement, provided by the HOA and the selling-owner, indicated no transgressions relating to my unit. Now, the HOA has written to a number of us requiring us to remove the doors because it is denying access to the HOA for a limited common area. The front door to our respective units are at the top of the stairwell.

The bottom door was one significant reason for selecting this unit since the stairwell design allows for several blind spots for people to wait in hiding for a returning homeowner at the top and bottom of the stairwell. In fact, one of the owners was held up at knife-point in the stairwell. The stairwell wall blocks your view when you enter the stairwell from the garage. I am very aware of crime.

Can the HOA require an owner to remove the improvement door once it has been approved?

A: I have been writing this column for more than 14 years. It is literally the first time that I have read a reader's letter where the information sounded so familiar that I had to ask the reader the name of the community. Yes, it was a community that my company had managed.

To first provide an answer, the board of directors, during the time of my company's management of the association, granted variances to homeowners who wanted to install security doors to their stairwells, limited common elements. These homeowners also had to obtain permits from the city and the door latches/locks had to be approved by the fire department, (in case of fire, residents would need to quickly and easily exit).

In attempting to assist the reader, I had one of my staff members begin to read board and executive minutes to find those meeting minutes where the security doors were approved. We forwarded this information to the reader.

Homeowners are required to submit architectural requests for many different types of improvements to their homes. Many associations have a process that the homeowners must move through in order for their requests to be approved. Once homeowners receive approval letters from their associations, as long as the work completed was in accordance with their architectural requests, homeowners are rightly under the assumptions that they have properly complied with the regulations of their associations.

Homeowners do not expect to receive warning letters eight years later telling them that the architectural requests that were approved are no longer valid, which is currently the reader's case. Since receiving the reader's e-mail, two other owners of this association have contacted me.

You can imagine the problems that have occurred to these homeowners, as a number of them were not the homeowners of record when the approvals were first granted. In selling homes, sellers have a disclosure obligation under state laws to inform buyers of any transgressions relating to their units that would cause the homeowner associations to fine the new owners or ask them to remove the improvements.

It is the obligation of the architectural committees and the boards of directors to properly administrate architectural requests. Homeowners depend upon their accuracy in granting requests per their architectural guidelines.

If boards could override approvals any time that they desire, there would be much chaos. This would literally defeat the purpose of even having approvals in the first place.

It also needs to stated that associations have much authority in granting variances -- just read some of your governing documents to see just how much authority associations have in granting variance, which, by the way, has been supported by many state supreme courts.

As to the reader's particular case, if the reader needs an affidavit from my office to present to the current board of directors, we will gladly produce one. The reader can also submit a copy of this article as part of her answer to the association's letters.

Barbara Holland, CPM, and Supervisory CAM, is president of H&L Realty and Management Co. To ask her a question, e-mail support@hlrealty.com. To view a power point presentation of the new laws that were recently passed affecting HOAs, visit hlrealty.com, click on press release button on the left side, then click on article title, "The 2009 Legislation for common interest communities."