Townhouse Roof Repair Responsibility

If a townhouse is a rental property owned by a landlord who collects rent from a tenant the landlord is typically responsible for the roof repairs.

Townhouse roof repair responsibility.

You don t want to neglect your roof to the point where it begins to cause water damage in your home or worse in your neighbor s. The hoa has a responsibility to ensure the latter events to avoid asking unit owners for special assessments. Typically the governing docs provide that the owner is responsible for all the structural components including the roof. A lot just say the association shall maintain exterior surfaces that unhelpful wording has led to some push and pull between hoas and owners.

Maintaining a townhouse roof requires even more awareness for that reason you don t want to end up paying for repairs to your neighbor s home too. But for attached townhome units where the association has some responsibility for maintenance repair and or replacement of the walls and or building exteriors the answer as to who is responsible for the interior damage can be more complicated. If you get a contractor to replace that owner s portion of the roof the contractor won t provide a warranty because there s a seam between the two adjoining townhomes. In fact hoas are required by law to take out insurance for common areas to protect against unforeseen damage and to cover major repairs such as roof replacement and unexpected plumbing damage.

The problem is the owner s roof joins other roofs. Occasionally a property owner is able to argue that a tenant caused the damage to the roof. If the roof s wear and tear is simply the result of its advanced age it s time to start planning to replace it. But the governing documents are very vague about what exterior maintenance is.