Beyond Walls and Windows: Pros & Cons of Traditional Versus Lot Lines Condominiums
Beyond Walls and Windows: Pros and Cons of Traditional versus Lot Line Condominiums
By Ray Mikkola
The declarations of most of the townhouse (and detached) condominium units in
For several years now, some developers have been creating (typically) townhouse condominiums in which the unit boundaries are actually the boundaries of the “yards” associated with the townhouse. The unit therefore actually includes the entire townhouse structure including the garage and the front and rear yards.
The boundaries of these so called “lot line” condominiums create issues for owners and for the Board of Directors. They present advantages and disadvantages over the traditional “drywall boundary” condominiums as follows:
1. Lower Common Expenses
Because the maintenance and repair of units is almost always a condominium unit owner’s expense, common expenses are usually significantly lower than in the traditional boundary condominiums. Most importantly, the roof, windows and doors (the big ticket expenses) are all unit owner expenses, because they all form part of the unit.
Because the repair and replacement of these components is no longer a common expense, reserve fund expenses are much lower. In most lot line condominiums, common expenses and the reserve fund liability is limited to the common interior roadways and associated curbing, and visitor parking areas.
This is the big advantage of lot line condominiums over traditional condominiums: significant common expense savings every month, forever.
2. Higher Extraordinary Expenses for Unit Owners
When it comes time to fix, repair or replace the roof, windows and doors, a unit owner does not have the comfort of a reserve fund which has been the subject of a professional review to ensure that it is adequate to fund such expenses, because these components are the unit owner’s responsibility.
Depending on the nature of the repair or replacement, the Board may be entitled to insist that the unit owner undertake it, whether or not the owner thinks the repair or replacement is necessary at the time.
Many lot line condominium declarations entitle the Board to undertake and repair, replacement or maintenance work which the owner has failed to do, and to expend common expenses in so doing, and to charge back the cost of so doing to the unit owner as common expenses.
3. More Owner Control/More Purchaser’s Due Diligence
Except as set out in the declaration, unit owners may amend, alter, and repair their units. This highlights the need for condominium unit purchasers to understand what they are buying and to undertake a building inspection in like manner as if they were purchasing a freehold house. Those lower common expenses mean that these sometimes emergency expenses are to be borne by the particular unit owners themselves.
4. More Restrictions on Owners
Notwithstanding that the actual structure forms part of the unit, the declaration can (and should) contain several provisions which are aimed at controlling what unit owners can do with the exterior of their homes. For example, unlike a freehold home, the declaration likely contains restrictions and obligations regarding the colour, quality and type of shingles which may be installed once the roof needs replacing.
Additional provisions usually specify the type of surfaces which may be installed on driveways, the kind and colour of windows and window frames, and restrictions on the installation of screen doors, garage doors and virtually every component which will be visible to other unit owners.
Sometimes, unit owners are surprised at the extent of these controls, particularly since they and not the condominium corporation will be paying for the repairs and replacements to the exterior of their homes. These controls are necessary to maintain a uniform appearance for the community, so that the townhomes do not appear an unattractive patchwork of colours, styles, and maintenance standards which tend to lower property values.
5. More Board Involvement
The restrictions referred to above mean that the Board will be more involved in the private maintenance, repair, redecorating and replacement of the exterior of the unit owners’ homes.
In some condominiums, the Board insists that unit owners use specific substances, products and even contractors in the course of undertaking the work. The exercise of some of these controls involves, on occasion, the exercise of legal authority by the Board which may not be consistent with the Condominium Act or the declaration, and complex and expensive legal challenges by disgruntled unit owners may occur.
6. More Complicated Condominium Declarations
For example, notwithstanding that the townhouses are part of the unit owners’ units, lot line declarations provide that a unit owner may not structurally alter their units in such a manner as to cause support or structural issues to adjoining units. Also, most such declarations provide for some limited right of owners to enter onto adjoining units where such entry is necessary to repair their own units.
Imagine that a leak has occurred in your unit, but it arises from a badly repaired roof next door, for example. But the ability of an owner to force entry to the adjoining unit, the role of the Board in such a dispute, and the allocation of costs and their collection are all issues which are unclear, and matters which are not straightforward at the legal level have a tendency to result in protracted and expensive disputes.
In addition, such declarations must be carefully drafted to address access issues. For example, if a declaration does not address fencing issues and a unit owner fences in their entire back yard, adjacent unit owners may need to carry their lawnmowers through their living room to their back yards to cut their grass in the absence of a common element access strip at the end of the back yards.
And as a further example, if a storm drain is blocked under the front yard of a unit, causing “upstream” units to flood, the obligation of the unit owner to grant access to their unit to fix the blockage is hopefully contained in the declaration.
While lot line declarations frequently contain numerous provisions addressing these and other possible occurrences, they cannot be expected to be sufficiently prescient to address clearly all disputes that may arise in the course of the lifetime of the condominium.
Purchasers of new and resale lot line condominiums should understand that those lower monthly common expenses come with a price.