2021 Georgia Code
Title 44 - Property
Chapter 3 - Regulation of Specialized Land Transactions
Article 3 - Condominiums
§ 44-3-82. Assignments and Reassignments of Limited Common Elements

1. All assignments and reassignments of limited common elements shall be made or provided for in the condominium instruments. No limited common element shall be assigned or reassigned except in accordance with this article. No amendment to any condominium instrument shall alter any rights or obligations with respect to any limited common element without the consent of all unit owners whose use of the limited common element is or may be directly affected by the assignment or reassignment, as evidenced by their execution of the amendment, except to the extent that the condominium instruments expressly provided otherwise prior to or simultaneously with the first assignment of the limited common element.
2. Unless expressly prohibited by the condominium instruments, a limited common element may be reassigned upon written application to the association by the owners of units to which the limited common element appertains and the owners of units to which the limited common element is being reassigned. The association shall immediately prepare and execute an amendment to the declaration reassigning all rights and obligations with respect to the limited common element involved. Such amendment shall be delivered immediately to the owners of the units to which the limited common element appertains and the owners of units to which the limited common element is being reassigned and upon payment by them of all reasonable costs for the preparation, execution, and recordation thereof. The amendment shall become effective when the association and the owners of the units to which the limited common element appertains and the owners of units to which the limited common element is being reassigned have executed and recorded the same. No vote of the unit owners shall be necessary for the amendment provided in this Code section to be executed by the association.
3. A common element not previously assigned as a limited common element shall be so assigned only pursuant to the declaration.The amendment to the declaration making such an assignment shall be prepared and executed by the association.The amendment shall be delivered to the unit owner or owners to whose unit the assignment is being made upon payment by them of all reasonable costs for the preparation, execution, and recordation thereof.The amendment shall become effective after execution by the association and such unit owner or owners and recordation, and the recordation thereof shall be conclusive evidence that the method prescribed pursuant to the declaration was adhered to.Unless otherwise required by the condominium instruments, no vote of the unit owners shall be necessary for the amendment provided in this Code section to be executed by the association.

(Ga. L. 1975, p. 609, § 19; Ga. L. 1990, p. 227, § 4; Ga. L. 1994, p. 1943, § 5.)

- 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

Defining "common element" versus "limited common element."

- External water spigots were not "limited common elements" because the spigots were not assigned as such in the condominium documents as required by O.C.G.A. § 44-3-82. Since the spigots were not "limited common elements," use of the spigots could be restricted under O.C.G.A. § 44-3-76 to enforce condominium declarations. Frantz v. Piccadilly Place Condo. Ass'n, 278 Ga. 103, 597 S.E.2d 354 (2004).

- Trial court properly granted a condominium association and the association's board summary judgment and properly declared a tenth-floor rooftop terrace a common element for all unit owners in a suit involving a dispute over the terrace because the express terms of the original declaration designated the terrace as a common element. Further, an amendment stating otherwise that was signed by a former managing member, and not the association, no longer controlled since the former managing member's control ended by the time the declarant sought to amend the declaration to assign the entire fenced area of the tenth-floor rooftop terrace as a limited common element benefitting only the penthouse unit. Walker v. 90 Fairlie Condo. Ass'n, 290 Ga. App. 171, 659 S.E.2d 412 (2008).

- Under O.C.G.A. § 44-3-82(a), a title insurer could be found to have insured an exclusive interest in a condominium courtyard by the owners of Unit 5 only if the condominium declaration assigned the courtyard to Unit 5 as a limited common element; as the declaration did not do so, the title policy did not insure the unit owners for an exclusive interest in the courtyard. Anderson v. Commonwealth Land Title Ins. Co., 284 Ga. App. 572, 644 S.E.2d 414 (2007).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 6 Am. Jur. 2d, Assignments, §§ 1 et seq., 9 et seq. 15A Am. Jur. 2d, Condominiums and Cooperative Apartments, § 29 et seq. 23 Am. Jur. 2d, Deeds, § 192 et seq.

- 6A C.J.S., Assignments, §§ 1 et seq., 123 et seq. 51C C.J.S., Landlord and Tenant, § 232.