Should 15-year-old bylaws for condo be updated?
A: There is no general standard for when bylaws need to be overhauled, says Bellevue attorney Josh Rosenstein, of Hanson Baker Ludlow Drumheller. Rather, "the board should reread them every three years or so to see if there's something in there that prevents them from doing something, or they need additional authority to do something."
Here's a bit of context: A condo's bylaws are created by its developer and "intended to be kind of bare bones," Rosenstein says. "They don't address the day-to-day details because the developer doesn't know what the needs or wishes of the people who live there will be." This means that the bylaws may be amended, which keeps them from being frozen in time. He says one of the most common changes involves lowering quorum requirements for holding owners' meetings. Another one is some consideration of how many units can become rentals.
Your bylaws presumably were drafted in accordance with the condominium law in place at the time. In 1990, the state enacted new legislation, so you might consider reviewing your bylaws to see whether they've been updated to reflect the newer law. The new law gives associations an easier method of foreclosing against deadbeat owners and, Rosenstein says, has more specific rules for the collection of various fees.
Q: The previous owner of my home had the roof replaced before I bought it. However, the roofer didn't install enough flashing, and a leak occurred, causing the ceiling to bubble. This wasn't caught by my inspector or me. Should I contact the previous owners about this?
A: By all means, contact the seller, suggests attorney Jeff Dunbar of Ogden Murphy Wallace. But before you do, realize that at this point you probably can't hold the seller legally responsible for your problem. That's because your inspector failed to find it, which likely trumps the lack of any disclosure the seller was obliged to give you. (And that obligation only existed if he knew of the problem.)
So why should you contact the seller? Because there's a possibility the roof has a warranty, and it may be transferable to you. "I'd try to cooperate with the seller," Dunbar says, "and if they said no, I'd contact the person who did the roof work, and see what kind of work they did, when they did it and if there are any warranties."
If nothing else, you might find that the roofer who made the mistake is willing to fix it more cheaply than other firms would, he points out.
Q: We had to put in a new sewer line, which involved having our deck and part of our fence removed, as well as some landscaping. This cost about $18,000. Can we deduct part or all of this amount from capital gains under the category of home improvement?
A: If you have to replace something and it affects the fair-market value of your property, that's considered an improvement, and it can indeed be deducted from capital gains when you sell your home, says enrolled agent James Brown of Team Accounting Services in Bellevue. (An enrolled agent is a kind of super-accountant who can argue cases in front of the IRS.) However, if the work you've done is simply a repair, it's not deductible unless you do the work within 90 days before or after the sale of your home.
However, as Brown points out, this deduction might be a moot point for you, depending on how much appreciation your home has enjoyed. That's because Congress tweaked the federal tax law about five years ago. Now you have to pay capital gains tax only if the profit (also called the "gain") from the sale exceeds $250,000 for a single homeowner, or $500,000 for a couple.
Even if you think you'll never see that much profit, Brown still suggests you keep financial records of improvements you make. "I tell all my clients to keep records regardless, because Congress could change the law at any time," he says.
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