Condominium associations and HOAs in Florida are not getting younger, they are aging, and at a more rapid pace than northern properties.  Why? Salt, causing accelerated corrosion from our beaches and proximity to the salt water bodies of the Gulf Of America and the Atlantic Ocean.  Also, the minerals in our drinking water are high volume and varied, causing scale build up and hard water issues with interior piping.  These are two things most northern properties do not have to contend with.  As a result, more attention has to be paid to repairs and replacements for plumbing parts of your community, inside and out.  Plumbing problems are more expensive than other repairs because they are hidden. Locating the source of a leak may not be easy, even though wet areas or standing water may be evident. Finding the actual problem source may require the assistance of a professional leak-finding service, as well as invasive tactics, including drywall or concrete removal. Plumbing leaks of every kind usually come with collateral damage, not only to the property owner of the home where the leak originates, but also to the neighbors.

aging pipes plumbing repairs

When you experience one leak in a building that is over 20 years old, chances are you will start to see them more frequently. If you live in an older community association, including an HOA, condominium association, townhome community, or other multi-family community, a call to action is needed. You may try to make do, repair the one leak here and there. But living through these repairs is misery to all involved, and expensive. Most of the time the expenses are shared between unit owner and the association, and just how the bill gets shared is not always clear. Just because “you’ve always done it this way,” that doesn’t mean someone took the time to research it properly, and the laws have changed recently in every state regarding who is responsible to do the repair and pay for the repair for each part of the damaged property.

You can look to your condominium documents, HOA bylaws, deed restrictions, and other forms of legal documentation for your community for answers. It may say plainly in these documents that the unit owner is responsible to repair the pipe, but the association must pay for the drywall repairs, regardless of fault, cause, or location. There can be any number of variations on this theme. However, you must also look to your state laws, because they have probably changed since your documents were recorded, and they may take precedence over your documents, depending on many factors. You can always call your attorney and pay for a letter to define the current responsibilities.  For more in depth details on this issue, consider reading this article on condovoice.com.