February 2025 CT

Maintenance Resolutions in Aging Communities By Andrew Newman, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, INTEGRA Management Corp., AAMC and Damon M. Kress, Esq., McGovern Legal Services, LLC

C ommunity association buildings are like human bodies. Generally, there are two stages of life where people tend to visit doctors often. As infants, we visit the doctor regularly to receive immunizations to monitor our early growth and development. For most, those early immunizations help their new young bodies adapt to a world filled with viruses and germs. Regularly monitor ing growth and development at this early stage helps the children’s parents and doctors determine whether there are any reasons to be concerned about how the child is pro

own weight, battled water through its pipes, and is subject to the consequences of the level of maintenance performed over time. Like a person who kept their body healthy and strong, in most instances, it is through maintenance that one can achieve the full useful life for many items, systems, and components in that home or building. While many homeowners will naturally take care of the asset that was potentially their single biggest purchase, others may not. There are virtually infinite reasons why someone might not maintain their home properly. For exam

gressing and whether intervention may be necessary to help the child achieve their full potential. Then again, as we age, people tend to find themselves visiting doctors much more often. During these visits, people receive additional immunizations and

ple, some maintenance may go undone because the owner does not know it is necessary. In other instances, the maintenance may be forgotten because we have all become overscheduled. In some cases, the maintenance may be foregone because the owner lacks

“There are virtually infinite reasons why someone might not maintain their home properly.”

even boosters for immunizations they received as children. Doctors also continue to monitor their patient’s health to help the person achieve a full and meaningful life well into their senior years. While it is far from a one-for-one comparison, bodies and homes are similar in this way. During its warranty period, a new home or building will be tested, and it is not uncommon to resolve a few minor issues and, on occasion, a major one too. An aging home or building, on the other hand, has faced the weather, the stress of its

the funds that are necessary to perform the required work. Whatever the reason, a community association cannot always rely on the individual members to keep up with their maintenance responsibilities. In community association settings, where people’s homes are often attached to one another, or the homes are in close proximity to one another, the lack of proper mainte nance of one home can negatively impact the other homes around them. As an example, an owner’s failure to prop erly maintain the landscaping around their home can hurt

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FEBRUARY 2025