Leaky Decks Top The List

Deck maintenance warranty issues became front and center once the California State Senate passed and made Bill SB800 law.

Waterproof decks are one of the most commonly litigated items that condominium associations bring to the courts.  And yet many condominium associations pay little attention to this.

This article is broken into several smaller articles and covers all the important things any association should consider.

About The Author

Bill Leys of Central Coast Waterproofing shares his experience of the top ten defective building component items named in lawsuits.  

The Bill

Several years ago, the California State Senate, to help protect builders from being easy pickings for construction defect attorney's suing for actual or perceived defects in condominiums, passed a comprehensive law, known as SB-800.

The bill laid out the steps an Association must follow to notify builders and allow them to make repairs or replace defective components of their homes, giving them tight timelines that must be met before the Association can file a suit.

The Result

The result has been a return of builders to the Condominium market in California, allowing them to build without the fear of getting sued at the drop of a hat by the Association. In my estimation, this bill has been a great success and has benefited everyone (except maybe defect attorneys).

New industries have evolved from this legislation, mine included, such as companies who write HOA maintenance manuals, third party inspectors and a slew of authors have written books and articles about this bill's mandates.

Attorneys specializing in the writing of CC&R's for Associations have seen a demand from builders to write precisely worded documents that eliminate the vague language commonly seen in older documents.

Maintenance responsibilities are far clearer than ever before over who is responsible for what in an Association, especially exclusive use areas.

This deck didn't look great one day and cracked overnight! Years of neglect allowed this deck to fail.

More in Part 2...