Trestle Provides Home Maintenance Recommendations

Home Maintenance Schedules

A home maintenance schedule can be a great tool to ensure your home and its elements remain in good working order. It is typically recommended that gutter clearing, roof moss treatment, pressure washing, and painting take place during the spring. 

Additionally, Homeowners can take on simple, preventative maintenance projects such as inspecting interior pipes for leaks, including washing machine and refrigerator water supply lines, ensuring hot water heaters are not past their prime, which is typically 10 years, testing interior smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and clearing interior dryer vents.

Understanding Maintenance Responsibility

Washington State Community Associations are subject to several different statutes, depending on when and how the Association was incorporated. The statutes, as well as the Association's governing documents, outline the responsibilities assigned to the Association and its Homeowner members.

The responsibilities assigned to Associations vary, but generally include the administration of the Association such as collecting Homeowner assessments and paying Association expenses. They also include maintenance of Association common elements and at times, maintenance of limited common elements.

Understanding the difference between Homeowner and Association responsibility can help Homeowners avoid conflict. To better familiarize yourself and the residents of your home with the responsibilities assigned within your community, please review your community's governing documents available through Trestle’s My-Community Web Portal or contact your Community Association Manager for assistance.

The Role of Governing Documents

Communities are often incorporated at the time of development by the builder, but some are incorporated later down the road, in the case of a rental unit community which is converted to an Association.

Each common interest ownership act in Washington State outlines different responsibilities and protections for the Association and Homeowners. A community’s Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws typically include details outlining to which act an Association is subject. Board Members and Homeowners may review these documents anytime on Trestle’s My-Community Web Portal or contact the Community’s Association Manager for assistance. 

Once an Association has been incorporated, responsibility is better defined, which allows the community to prepare its other governing documents. An established Association may have many community-specific governing documents, but each community starts with same core documents:

1. Articles of Incorporation – typically document the legal creation of the Association as a corporation,
2. Bylaws – often establish the rules which define the innerworkings of the Association, such as Board of Director eligibility, positions, terms, and election processes, and
3. Declaration – usually define maintenance responsibility, and outline which elements belong to the Homeowners, and which belong to the Association.

Community Association Purpose and Creation

Associations serve to create a community for Homeowners. Pooling resources and utilizing centralized maintenance through the Board of Directors and other volunteers, Associations can maintain an appealing aesthetic, create a sense of community, and help Homeowners retain and increase their home values.

In Washington State, Community Associations, also known as Common Interest Ownership Associations, are corporations, often subject to the Washington State Nonprofit Corporation Act (Nonprofit Act). In addition, Associations are incorporated under one of four common interest ownership acts in Washington State. The applicability of each act depends on the date and way in which the Association was incorporated.

The four acts are:

1. The Homeowners Association Act (HOA Act),
2. The Horizontal Properties Regimes Act (Old Act),
3. The Condominium Act (New Act), and
4. The Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (WUCIOA).

Previously, an Association could be incorporated under any active Community Association act. However, with the passage of WUCIOA, all new communities incorporated after July 1, 2018, fall under the act. 

The Role of the Board of Directors

As a corporation, the Association is run by a Board of Directors. Oftentimes, the Board consists of elected members from the community, though some governing documents allow non-Homeowners to run for Board positions. Additionally, communities under development may temporarily have builder representatives on the Board while the community continues to be built.

The Board of Directors’ responsibilities are outlined in the community’s governing documents and often include the administration of the Association. Board Members are tasked with adhering to the Association’s legal requirements outlined in Washington State law and the Association’s governing documents. These requirements include maintenance of elements as defined in the documents. While each community is different, an Association is often responsible for the maintenance of common elements, which are items accessible to most, if not all, Homeowners. This would include items such as a monument sign, playground, lobby, and park.

An Association may also be responsible for the maintenance of limited common elements, which generally include items used by one or more Homeowners and are often visible to the community. Though the Association may have the ability to seek reimbursement from affected Homeowners for these maintenance expenses.

Getting Involved

Interested Homeowners can learn more about their Community Association and its Board by visiting Trestle’s My-Community Web Portal, contacting the Community’s Association Manager and attending Board and community meetings.

Connecting with Trestle

Trestle regularly connects on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and can be contacted through its website or at (425) 454-6404.