2024-11-06 Hearing – Condensation Line Block Reimbursement

Hearing November 6, 2024 7 PM – (Unit Number and Owner Redacted) Reimbursement Request for
Condensation Discharge Clog and Repairs

1. Meeting called to order by President, Nelda Fink at 7:03 PM
2. Current Board members:
   a. President – Nelda Fink (present in person)
   b. Vice President – Harry Payne (present in person)
   c. Secretary – open
   d. Treasurer – Thanh Nguyen (present in person)
   e. Asst Secretary – Jennifer Wingate (present in person)
3. Validate Hearing Notice sent and received as per bylaws, BOD quorum
   met, BOD members validated.
4. Owner present.
5. Review – Homeowner requests reimbursement of plumbing
   repairs to open condensation line that exits to the patio and was clogged causing overflow into utility room and kitchen floor totaling $650.
6. The Council is mandated by the Declaration Article V(b) to cover costs of repairs of shared common elements and any damages resulting from Board’s lack of maintenance of said shared common element.
7. The Council is also mandated to deny any costs of said shared common elements when damage was caused due to neglect of the homeowner. So the question before this Board is whether there is evidence of negligence on the homeowner’s part.
8. The condensation lines are shared between 2 units and daylight to the patio of one of the units.
9. According to the Declaration Article V(a) the homeowner is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the patio area and ensuring that nothing on the patio area obstructs or interferes or encroaches upon the common elements such as the shared condensation line.
10. In this case the condensation line had been buried at least 1 inch below the ground and was not day-lighted and was blocked by soil and large landscaping rocks.
11. redacted
12. [redacted] experienced overflow of the condensation line in utility room and onto the kitchen floor.
13. Homeowner hired plumber to clear the line incurring initial cost of $200
14. Homeowner’s plumber stated he snaked 20′ and could not go any further since that indicated it was in shared pipes and would fall on the association.
15. Homeowner’s plumber could not clear the line.
16. American Dream Realty with the President’s consultation recommended homeowner call Howard Plumbing (putting the expense on homeowner’s account, not the associations).
17. Howard came on site, camera-ed and when they found the camera, they determined the pipe was under the ground (buried) at the patio. Howard’s report on their invoice states this – “Covered with soil and rocks and roots”.
18. The homeowner claims [redacted] did not place soil and rocks on the pipe.
19. The homeowner claims the “bushes that were removed” and their roots are what caused the blockage. (The Board disagreed #22.)
20. The homeowner submits pictures of said bushes, which are clearly the
    bushes along the outside of the fence.
21. The homeowner claims [redacted] called Howard Plumbing and the person spoken to agreed that the roots from the bushes blocked the pipes. (Again the Board disagreed as evidence proves otherwise.)
22. The pictures presented at the hearing do not show blockage by roots, the roots are far too small. The pictures show landscaping rocks and soil. And a little trench dug out by the plumber so that the water could flow properly.
23. Howard Plumbing expense is $450.
24. Homeowner is requesting $650 total reimbursement.
25. During the hearing the homeowner also presented an invoice showing the AC unit had been maintenance in April 2024. The AC technician should have checked that the condensation line was operating properly.
26. Based on the evidence presented the Board concluded that negligence on the part of the homeowner caused the discharge line to block and back up. The following motion was brought to the table:

Motion

Motion to Deny reimbursement of all charges relating to the backup of the shared condensation line due to negligence on the part of the homeowner allowing soil and landscaping rocks in the patio area to bury the condensation discharge line and block the flow of the water. Motion seconded by Mr. Nguyen. Motion was approved, 4 in favor, 0 opposed.

Meeting adjourned at 7:35 PM. A CONFIDENTIAL non-redacted version of these minutes has also been filed with the Secretary and the management agent.