2021 Georgia Code
Title 44 - Property
Chapter 3 - Regulation of Specialized Land Transactions
Article 3 - Condominiums
§ 44-3-105. Powers and Duties as to Upkeep of the Condominium; Access; Liability for Damage
Except to the extent otherwise provided by the condominium instruments, all powers and responsibilities with regard to maintenance, repair, renovation, restoration, and replacement shall pertain to the association in the case of the common elements other than limited common elements and to the individual unit owner in the case of any unit and the limited common elements, if any, appurtenant thereto. Each unit owner shall afford to the other unit owners, to the association, and to any agents or employees of either such access through his unit as may be reasonably necessary to enable them to exercise and discharge their respective powers and responsibilities. To the extent that damage is inflicted on the common elements, including, without limitation, limited common elements, or on any unit through which access is taken, the association or unit owner occasioning the same, whether by itself or himself or through agents, employees, or others, shall be liable for the prompt repair thereof.
(Ga. L. 1975, p. 609, § 37.)
Law reviews.- For article, "Recommended Changes in the Law Affecting Condominium and Homeowner Associations in Georgia," see 1 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 185 (1985).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Freedom of parties to contract.
- Condominium association's duty to the association's members only pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 51-3-1 with regard to the common elements of a condominium property may be circumscribed by the terms of the condominium instruments/contract, and a court must look to the terms of the contract, as well as O.C.G.A. § 44-3-70 et seq., in order to determine an association's duties. In that regard, it is the paramount public policy of Georgia that courts will not lightly interfere with the freedom of parties to contract as a contracting party may waive or renounce that which the law has established in his or her favor, when it does not thereby injure others or affect the public interest. Bradford Square Condo. Ass'n v. Miller, 258 Ga. App. 240, 573 S.E.2d 405 (2002).
Upkeep didn't include security from third party criminal acts.
- Like other statutes which are in derogation of the common law, the Georgia Condominium Act (the Act), O.C.G.A. § 44-3-70 et seq., must be strictly construed and limited to its explicit terms, and, in that regard, the Act does not in any fashion speak to providing security from third party criminal acts as a part of a condominium's "upkeep," meaning maintenance, repair, renovation, restoration, and replacement. Bradford Square Condo. Ass'n v. Miller, 258 Ga. App. 240, 573 S.E.2d 405 (2002).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d.
- 15A Am. Jur. 2d, Condominiums and Cooperative Apartments, § 33.
C.J.S.- 51C C.J.S., Landlord and Tenant, § 232.
ALR.- Right of condominium association's management or governing body to inspect individual units, 41 A.L.R.4th 730.
