Maintenance and repairs: who is responsible

In broad terms, the association maintains, repairs and replaces the common elements, and each owner maintains, repairs and replaces their own unit. The difficulty is that the interesting cases sit on the boundary, and the boundary is drawn by the declaration.

Nothing here overrides your declaration. Where a guide says "usually", your documents say what is actually true.

Almost every dispute resolves by asking these in order.

1. Which category is the thing in?

Unit, limited common element, or common element. The declaration defines the unit boundaries — commonly the unfinished surfaces of the perimeter walls, floor and ceiling — and lists what is a limited common element. A pipe inside your wall that serves only your unit is often yours; the same pipe serving three units is usually the association’s.

2. Who does the declaration make responsible for that category?

Not always the owner of the category. It is common for the association to maintain limited common elements — windows, balconies, decks — because they are part of the building envelope, while charging some or all of the cost to the unit they serve. Maintenance responsibility and cost responsibility are two separate questions and the declaration answers them separately.

3. Was it wear, or was it damage?

Ordinary deterioration usually follows the maintenance obligation in the declaration. Damage caused by an owner, their household, their guests or their tenant is usually chargeable to that owner regardless of whose component it was — and in some declarations that includes the association’s insurance deductible.

Water from above

The most common and most contentious. Establish the source before establishing responsibility: a failed supply line inside a unit, a failed common stack, a roof, and a bath left running are four different answers. Report it immediately, photograph it, and let the association investigate the source — the answer to "who pays" follows from the answer to "what failed".

Windows and doors

Frequently limited common elements. Glass breakage, seals and hardware are often the owner’s; the frame and the surrounding envelope often the association’s. This is one to read rather than assume.

Plumbing and electrical

The usual test is what it serves. Serving one unit only tends toward the owner; serving more than one tends toward the association — often regardless of which wall it runs through.

Appliances and fixtures

Almost always the owner’s, including water heaters, and including the damage they cause when they fail. Water heaters and supply hoses are the single most preventable cause of large losses in a condominium.

Balconies, patios and decks

Usually limited common elements. The owner typically keeps them clean and clear; the association typically maintains the structure and the waterproofing, because a failure there damages the building.

• Anything in a common area, or anything you think may be a common element: send a maintenance request so it is logged and tracked to closed.
• Anything inside your own unit that is clearly yours: arrange it yourself.
• If you are not sure: send it anyway. Determining the boundary is the association’s job, not the reporting owner’s.
• A burst pipe, a fire, a failed alarm, anything that cannot wait: call the office rather than filling in a form.

Reporting promptly matters beyond politeness. A slow report turns a contained loss into a large one, and declarations commonly make an owner responsible for damage that a prompt report would have limited.