Being from Gig Harbor and having gone to UW, I’m considered pretty local, so you think I’d be used to the DARK mornings and evenings that come with October, but it seems to surprise me every year. This morning, it got me thinking about what duties, if any, a community association has to make sure its common areas are well-lit. Obviously, exterior lighting can be helpful to prevent potential Association liability if you have uneven paths or stairs or if your walkways tend to get icy, or even to ward off potential crime, but in my experience, most community associations don’t go through the process of trying to determine whether they have certain duties and instead, just respond to Owner request and complaints as if they had these duties.
However, what is clear from cases that have been reported at the appellate level is that if the Association does have lighting or other security improvements, a duty is created to make sure those components work. A good way to remember it is “If you’re going to do it, you have to do it well.” So, if a community never had lit sidewalks or paths, the Association may not have any particular duty to install lighting, but if the garden lights or street lamps are already in place, the Association has a duty to keep them working because the primary duty of an Association is to maintain and repair common areas and “improvements” on them.
In addition, the courts have said that Owners may reasonably rely on the existence of certain components such as security cameras, but if the cameras are not real or are not working, that can also cause liability to the Association. Again, an Association may not have a duty to keep its members safe, but if undertakes such a duty by installing cameras, for example, then it’s stronger duty to maintain and repair kicks in and failure to do so can cause liability. Well, there’s some dark thoughts for a dark morning! If you want to subscribe to our blog to find it in your email “in box” on a monthly basis, just fill out the form below!
