Article Courtesy of  The Sun Sentinel

By Joe Kollin

Published February 3, 2006

You bought that apartment so you could sit on the balcony and relax.

But since Hurricane Wilma struck in October, damaging or destroying concrete, railings and screens, dealing with balconies has been anything but relaxing.

While repairs are finally under way in some buildings, in others, condo boards are still deciding who is responsible for repairing what. In many buildings, balcony railings -- a safety feature -- appear to be the responsibility of boards. But the screens, sliding glass doors and other balcony property appear to be the responsibility of the individual owner.

If this seems confusing, it is. The answer depends on each association's governing documents.

"There is still a wide misunderstanding on the difference between the obligation to maintain, and the duty to insure, and responsibility for repair following a casualty," said Gary Poliakoff, president of Becker & Poliakoff, which represents more than 3,500 associations.

"Even between attorneys and the [state condo] ombudsman and the Division [of Florida Land Sales, Condominiums & Mobile Homes] there is a difference of opinion," said Poliakoff, whose firm is writing almost 10 opinions a day for boards.

The state in 2003 passed a law to settle the issue, but many attorneys say all it does is make things more confusing. It appears to say that anything outside the individual unit is the responsibility of the association. An exception would be if the association's documents say something inside the unit is also the responsibility of the association.

The law also appears to say that anything serving only one unit, such as floor coverings, is the individual owner's responsibility no matter what the documents say.

Poliakoff says the association must repair anything it insures, but only if the proceeds of the insurance are enough to cover the cost of repairs. If the insurance isn't enough, then the association's documents determine who pays.

However, the state agency that regulates condos "takes the position that if the association has the duty to insure, then the association is obligated for the repairs," Poliakoff says.

Virgil Rizzo, the state condo ombudsman, says, "Anything structural is the duty of the association. ... The balcony is part of the structure."

In addition, he said, even when an owner is responsible for fixing a structural problem, the association must do the work "because you can't have 10 different contractors in there."

Some associations aren't waiting for their attorneys to decide who should pay.

Dr. Harry Topolsky, president of Park Place in Pembroke Pines, said, "We're putting the aluminum railings back. There is a question of whether the owner or association pays, but while we're waiting for a legal opinion, we're paying out of Park Place funds in order to get it done."

The city declared balconies in 51 of the 1,028 apartments unsafe. The association is paying the $150,000-plus needed to make them safe, he said.

Balcony restoration pays off, said Gary Dearing, manager at the Aberdeen Arms, a 116-unit, 34-year-old building in Highland Beach. It restored the balconies in 2003 for $900,000.

"We had 120 windows blow out. Even those with shutters were sucked out by the wind. But we had no other damage," he said.

They also didn't have a problem at Sabal Point, a 70-unit beachfront building in Boca Raton. The association two years go replaced its concrete railings with longer-lasting glass, a project that cost owners $935,000.

"We didn't lose one railing or one piece of glass," said manager Tony DeNuncio.

"There's no question about it," he said of the restoration's value. And, he said, residents "are tickled" with the results.

At the oceanfront, 25-story Point of Americas I in Fort Lauderdale, Wilma damaged the railings on seven of the 281 balconies. The association will replace them, according to Robert Raker, general manager of the 37-year-old building.

"I can't say everything was really from storm damage," he said. "The railings are fairly old and had cracks. What was a one-sixteenth-inch crack yesterday now becomes a life hazard."

At Granville B in King's Point, Tamarac, screens protect residents from falling off balconies and those in about one third of the 48 units were damaged, according to president Louis Rosenfield.

"Everyone is responsible for their own, they acknowledge it and everyone took care of it," he said.

But at the 16-story Bonavida condo in Aventura, damage to screen frames left 40 balconies unusable, according to association president Marilyn Krisbergh.

"It's definitely an association responsibility," she said.