While larger New England condo buildings and HOAs often hire professional community managers to handle their day-to-day administration and maintenance, smaller communities of just a few units often opt to manage those things on their own. Sharing maintenance duties among residents can be a viable way to help keep monthly association fees in check—but problems can arise when new owners don’t fully understand the nature of condo living, or when an owner rents out their unit and leaves the remaining resident owners to shoulder the operational responsibilities.

A Case in Point 

“We do not have a management company,” notes one resident owner in a three-unit Rhode Island condo. “Frankly, we can’t afford it. So the three owner-trustees are supposed to share the upkeep on our building.” 

This arrangement worked well, until one of those three owners moved out and rented their unit. That’s when things got less copacetic. “The absentee owner’s rental tenants don’t participate [in regular maintenance and upkeep], which I understand,” she says. “But now the two on-site owners have to do it all, all the time.” Tasks to be done range from handling association finances and utility bills to swapping common-area light bulbs, clearing drains, making minor repairs, and coordinating routine grounds maintenance and snow removal, just to name a few.

According to Richard E. Palumbo, Jr., owner and managing attorney at Palumbo Law in Cranston, Rhode Island, this is a widespread frustration for small condominium associations. “There are a number of different methods to address this issue,” he notes. “However, any of the available options would likely include an amendment to the condominium documents, either the declaration and/or bylaws.”

For example, “The unit owners could amend their bylaws and/or the declaration as needed to allow for compensation to the active unit owners for their time involving the management of the association. Then a new budget would need to be approved to pay for that compensation. The unit owners could also approve a budget that increases the current budget to pay a professional management company.” In either scenario, Palumbo says it would be essential to confirm the required voting percentages outlined in the association’s master documents.

The ‘Renter’s Mentality’ 

Along with potentially burdening resident owners, investor-owned units introduce distinct administrative dynamics to a building or HOA. While the majority of renters treat shared communities with courtesy and respect, industry veterans note an inherent gap in engagement between those who rent and those who own. 

“We’ve observed over the years that renters generally do not take the same pride of ownership that owners do,” says Bruno Bartoli, Senior Portfolio Manager at BRIGS, LLC, in Nashua, New Hampshire. “Nor do they worry as much about following association rules—though to be fair, we also see that some owners don’t share the association rules with renters, so they move in without knowing what is and isn’t allowed.”

Bob Keegan, president of Dirigo Management Company in Portland, Maine concurs, and notes that the renter’s mentality doesn’t suddenly evolve just because someone holds a deed instead of a lease. Many people who’ve been renters their whole lives buy a condo without actually understanding how condo ownership works. “They think they buy a unit, pay a monthly fee, and everything is taken care of,” he explains. “When you’re closing on a home, you don’t necessarily read all of those docs with the keenest eye—but you have to learn eventually.” 

Whether the issue is dereliction of shared maintenance duties or an errant rental tenant, the pros say that associations must hold landlord-owners accountable. “Tenants are the sole responsibility of the unit owner,” Bartoli emphasizes. “The owner is one hundred percent responsible for any action of their tenant, right or wrong,” and that holds true whether the unit owner is just down the block, or on the other side of the world.