Who pays for repairs in an HOA depends on who your governing documents make responsible for the part that needs fixing. Three categories decide most cases: the owner’s unit or lot, the common area, and exclusive use common area, which is common area set aside for one owner, such as a balcony or an assigned parking space. As a general pattern, owners pay for what is theirs and the association pays for what everyone shares, but each community’s documents draw that line in their own way.
For related topics, see the HOA maintenance and vendors hub.
Maintain, repair and replace are separate duties
Governing documents often split one component into three duties. Maintaining is routine upkeep, such as cleaning, sealing and painting. Repairing is fixing something that has broken. Replacing is installing a new one when the old one wears out. One party can hold all three, or they can be divided: an owner may keep a balcony clean and drained while the association repairs and replaces its structure.
Documents can also separate who does the work from who pays. The association might make a repair and bill the owner, or an owner might have to do the work to the association’s standard.
How to find the answer in your documents
Start with the recorded documents, not with what a neighbor or a past board remembers. Look in these places:
- The maintenance and repair section of the CC&Rs or declaration. It usually lists what the association maintains and what owners maintain.
- The definitions of unit, lot, common area and exclusive use common area. Many condominium declarations end the unit at the interior surfaces of its walls, floors and ceilings, but yours may differ.
- The condominium plan or plat. The recorded map shows those boundaries and which balconies, patios and parking spaces go with which unit.
- Any maintenance responsibility chart the board has adopted. If it conflicts with the recorded documents, the documents control.
For what each document does, see HOA Governing Documents Explained.
Who typically pays for common components
The table shows typical patterns only. Your documents can change any line, and state law may fill in where they are silent.
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| Component | Condominium | Planned development of detached homes |
|---|---|---|
| Roofs | Typically the association | Typically the owner |
| Exterior walls and paint | Typically the association | Typically the owner |
| Structural elements | Typically the association | Typically the owner |
| Pipes and wiring inside walls that serve several units | Typically the association | Depends on your documents |
| Pipes and wiring that serve one unit | Depends on your documents | Typically the owner |
| Fixtures and appliances inside the home | Typically the owner | Typically the owner |
| Windows and exterior doors | Depends on your documents | Typically the owner |
| Balconies, decks and patios | Depends on your documents | Typically the owner |
| Fences | Depends on your documents | Depends on your documents |
| Driveways and private streets | Typically the association | Streets: typically the association. Driveways: typically the owner |
| Landscaping | Typically the association | Common area: typically the association. Lots: typically the owner |
| Pest damage | Common area: typically the association. Unit interior: typically the owner | Typically the owner |
When damage crosses boundaries
A leak from one unit into another raises two questions that often get blended: who is responsible for each damaged component, and who caused the damage.
Many documents start from the component. Each party repairs what it is responsible for, no matter where the water came from: the owner below repairs their flooring and cabinets, and the association repairs common area framing.
Cause can then shift the cost. If an owner’s negligence caused the damage, such as an overflowing tub, many documents let the association charge that owner for the common area repair, usually after notice and a hearing. If the damage came from a common area component the association failed to maintain, the association may be responsible for the resulting damage inside units.
Cost shifting depends on your documents and your state’s law, so a board should get legal advice before billing a repair back to an owner. Record the cause early with photos, dates and the contractor’s written findings.
How insurance fits in
Insurance responsibility and repair responsibility are separate questions. Your documents say who has to make the repair. The insurance policies say whether an insurer will pay for some of it.
The association’s master policy typically covers the common area and, depending on the type of policy, some or all of the building components inside the units. An owner’s policy typically covers personal belongings, interior items the master policy leaves out and the owner’s liability. What Does Homeowners Association Insurance Cover? explains the master policy types, and Do You Need Homeowners Insurance if You Live in an HOA? covers the owner’s side.
A loss smaller than the master policy deductible is not paid by the insurer, so the cost falls back on whoever has the repair duty. Some documents also say who pays the deductible on a covered claim. Ask your insurance agent how the two policies work together.
What the board should do
These steps are good practice. Your state’s law or your documents may also require some of them.
- Adopt and distribute a maintenance responsibility chart. Write it in plain language and make sure it follows the documents. A chart cannot change who is responsible. Only an amendment can.
- Apply it consistently. Every owner with the same problem should get the same answer.
- Budget and reserve for what the association owns. Each component on the association’s side of the chart belongs in the budget or the reserve study.
- Respond promptly to reports. Log the date, inspect, and tell the owner in writing who is responsible and which section you relied on.
- Get the attorney’s reading when the documents are unclear. Ask for it in writing and apply it the same way from then on.
What an owner should do when a repair is disputed
- Report it in writing. Include the date, photos and what you have done to limit the damage.
- Cite the document section. Quote the provision you believe makes the association responsible.
- Ask for the board’s position in writing. Request the section the board relied on.
- Use the association’s dispute resolution process. Many associations offer a meeting with the board or mediation before anyone goes to court.
If the damage is getting worse, take reasonable steps to stop it and keep your receipts. See also The Rights of Homeowners Association Members.
In California
California’s Davis-Stirling Act sets default rules, most of which apply only when the declaration does not say something different. For background, see The Davis-Stirling Act Explained.
- Default allocation. Under Civil Code section 4775, unless the declaration provides otherwise, the association repairs, replaces and maintains the common area, and each owner repairs, replaces and maintains their separate interest. For exclusive use common area, the owner maintains it and the association repairs and replaces it.
- Utility interruptions. The same section says that, unless the declaration provides otherwise or a utility provider is responsible for the failed component, the association is responsible for the repairs and replacements needed to restore interrupted gas, heat, water or electrical service that begins in the common area, even if the problem extends into a separate interest or exclusive use common area. The board must commence the process to make those repairs within 14 days of the interruption. The section does not apply when a declared federal, state or local emergency materially affects the association’s ability to perform.
- Exclusive use common area. Civil Code section 4145 defines it as a portion of the common area that the declaration designates for the exclusive use of one or more, but fewer than all, of the owners. Unless the declaration provides otherwise, it includes items such as shutters, awnings, balconies, patios, exterior doors, screens and windows that serve a single separate interest but sit outside its boundaries.
- Wood-destroying pests. Under Civil Code section 4780, in a condominium project, community apartment project or stock cooperative, the association is responsible for the common area repair and maintenance that wood-destroying pests or organisms make necessary, unless the declaration provides otherwise. In a planned development, each owner is responsible for their separate interest unless the declaration sets a different scheme, and a majority of the members can vote to delegate that work to the association.
- Temporary relocation. Civil Code section 4785 lets the association temporarily remove occupants when that is necessary to treat wood-destroying pests, with notice given not less than 15 and not more than 30 days before the relocation date. Section 4775 says the owner of the affected separate interest bears the cost of temporary relocation during work that is the association’s responsibility.
- Balcony and elevated element inspections. Civil Code section 5551 applies to buildings with three or more attached multifamily dwelling units. At least once every nine years, the board of a condominium association must have a licensed structural or civil engineer or architect visually inspect a random and statistically significant sample of the exterior elevated elements the association is responsible for maintaining or repairing. These are the load-bearing components and waterproofing systems of decks, balconies, stairways, walkways and their railings that have a walking surface more than six feet above ground level and are supported in whole or in substantial part by wood or wood-based products. The first inspection was due by January 1, 2025.
Our free Maintenance Responsibility Matrix helps the board chart who maintains, repairs and replaces each part of the property. Our free Maintenance Request Form, Work Order and Log gives owners a way to report a problem and gives the board a work order and a running log.
The Law Behind This Article
Every legal point in this article comes from the official text. Each link below opens it in a new tab.
Civil Code sections: 4145 · 4775 · 4780 · 4785 · 5551
This article is general educational information, not legal or insurance advice. Laws vary by state and your association’s governing documents control many of these questions, so check with your association’s attorney or another qualified professional about your situation.