COURT INVALIDATES SPECIAL ASSESSMENT FOR COMMON AREA REPAIRS THAT WAS NOT LEVIED ON ALL OWNERS EQUALLY

This case involved a dispute between a condominium owner (“Owner”) and his condominium owners association (“Association”) over Owner’s liability for unpaid assessments. Association’s property consists of two buildings, one of which has 10 units, and the other has 12 units. Owner owned one unit in each of the buildings. Association dues for each unit were $115.00 per month, and Owner owed Association for dues that had not been paid since 2017.

In 2018, the building with 12 units was declared to be unsafe and uninhabitable by the City of Huntsville due to an electrical problem that the Association was required to repair, but did not immediately repair because it lacked the funds needed to perform the necessary repairs. The Association ultimately levied a special assessment on the owners of the units in the building that was declared unsafe, which included an assessment to Owner in the amount of $4,980, that Owner did not pay. The repair work commenced in 2020, but it took two years to complete everything that was required to be done.

In 2021, Association filed suit against Owner for: