Court Rules HOA Owes Duty of Care to Tenants of Owners

This case involved a dispute between family members of a tenant (“Tenant”) and the tenant’s landlord condominium owner (“Owner”) and the homeowners association (“Association”). Tenant died in a fire in the garage of a condominium he was renting with his family from Owner. Tenant’s family sued Owner and Association for negligence, premises liability, and wrongful death based on claims of failure to properly maintain the electrical and plumbing systems, and creating unsafe conditions in the Association’s common area.

Owner settled with the plaintiffs and the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the Association after finding that it owed no duty of care to Tenant because he was not an HOA member. Tenant’s family members appealed the trial court’s decision.

The appellate court reversed the trial court’s decision based on findings that HOAs can owe a duty of ordinary care to: