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If you live in an HOA community where your home is a condo or a townhome, in general, the HOA pays for maintenance and repairs to the community and the outside portion of your home, meaning that you’re only responsible for repairs inside your home.

What would you do if there was water damage in the siding on the outside of your townhome, but the HOA refused to fix it until you replaced the drywall inside your home even though an inspection showed no water damage inside the home? Would you pay to replace the drywall anyway, or would you fight the HOA?

In this story, one homeowner is in this exact situation, and they have had an inspection that proves there isn’t a leak inside the home, and there is no water damage. The HOA president still won’t back down.

What should the homeowner do? Let’s read the whole story to decide.

dispute with HOA on construction issue behind the siding

HOA finally doing maintenance on the properties and found behind the siding water damage.

They are now charging us for the structural.

We have been in the Townhome 10 months and it was inspected before we moved in. We had the inspector come back out and there are no internal water issues in the wall or the window.

The contractor also came out and stated this has been going on for years from water leaking in under the window and could not understand why the homeowner would be responsible.

It seems like the HOA should pay, not the homeowner.

We asked for documentation as to when this property was last maintained by the HOA-no response from HOA or the Management Group

The Bylaws state the HOA handles the siding, tyek, etc , the homeowner structural, but why should we be held responsible for neglect by the HOA, from not maintaining the outside of the building which in the Bylaws states is their responsibility?

There is not specific definition of what is structural. If they did not finally do the maintenance this would not have been found.

The HOA president made it even worse.

The president of the HOA put our home in the Newletter for the Community to see and wrote :lessons learned” the homeowner has to take care of their part and then we will take care of the outside-Shaming us to the community blaming us for this damage. and using us as an example.

He did not get our permission to put our home on the Internet. Using his title to bully and harass homeowners.

Many others have complaints concerning him.

He also implied that we or the prior owners did not file a claim on water damage and other homeowners when finding this issue have. This would only be if they found water damage inside their home. again implying that this was our fault.

The leak is clearly not coming from inside the home.

We had our Insurance Adjuster come out and stated the same-water leaking from the outside, also tested the walls on the inside and the window and all areas around it and no water or moisture

Our Homeowners insurance will not cover this because it is :at of god”

The maintenance company hired to do the work on the buildings and fencing is family to the Manager with the Management Group-Leland Management-Belet Painting and Maintenance

Everyone (except the HOA president) agrees that the water is coming from outside the home.

The president continues stating we need to take care of the inside wall and then they will take care of the siding and tyvek or equivalent. Inside wall is the inside of our home.

The damage is from the outside and I have documentation from the Inspector, contractor and Insurance Adjuster

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We need to know our rights, are we responsible? can we fight back?

Don’t you just love HOAs? Seriously, it’s stories like this that make people hate HOAs. Clearly, the HOA should pay for the repairs since the damage is outside the home not inside the home.

Let’s see what Reddit suggests.

Here’s some advice.

Another person thinks an attorney could help.

Here’s a suggestion to look at the governing documents.

I can understand why this homeowner is so frustrated. When every single expert you talk to agrees that there isn’t any water damage inside the home, but the HOA president still blames you for the water damage outside the home and insists that you have to do repairs inside your home (even though there’s nothing that needs to be repaired), it’s enough to make anyone hate HOAs with every fiber of their being!

I hope they find a lawyer who can help them. It seems pretty obvious that they’re right and the HOA is wrong.

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Author

Jayne Elliott

Jayne Elliott | Contributing Writer, Life & Drama

Jayne Elliott is a contributing writer and editor for TwistedSifter specializing in human interest stories, internet culture, and family dynamics. With over 12 years of editorial experience in digital publishing, Jayne excels at analyzing complex online communities and transforming viral social debates into thoughtful, highly engaging narratives.

Rather than simply aggregating internet drama, Jayne brings a sharp, empathetic editorial eye to everyday dilemmas. She has a unique talent for unpacking the nuances of pop culture and online conflicts, providing readers with relatable, well-researched commentary.

Based in California, Jayne spends her free time outside the newsroom exploring theme parks with her family or beach-combing along the coast.

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