Chapter 36B, Chapter 36B

This chapter may be cited as the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act.

Applicability of this chapter is governed by Part II of this article.

In the declaration and bylaws (section one hundred six, article three of this chapter), unless specifically provided otherwise or the context otherwise requires, and in this chapter: (1) "Affiliate of a declarant" means any person who controls, is controlled by, or is under commo…

Except as expressly provided in this chapter, provisions herein may not be varied by agreement, and rights conferred may not be waived. A declarant may not act under a power of attorney, or use any other device, to evade the limitations or prohibitions of this chapter or the decl…

(a) In a cooperative, unless the declaration provides that a unit owner's interest in a unit and its allocated interests is real estate for all purposes, that interest is personal property. (That interest is subject to the provisions of all homestead exemptions from taxation prov…

(a) A building code may not impose any requirement upon any structure in a common interest community which it would not impose upon a physically identical development under a different form of ownership. (b) In condominiums and cooperatives, no zoning, subdivision, or other real …

(a) If a unit is acquired by eminent domain, or part of a unit is acquired by eminent domain, leaving the unit owner with a remnant that may not practically or lawfully be used for any purpose permitted by the declaration, the award must include compensation to the unit owner for…

The principles of law and equity, including the law of corporations and unincorporated associations, the law of real property, and the law relative to capacity to contract, principal and agent, eminent domain, estoppel, fraud, misrepresentation, duress, coercion, mistake, receive…

This chapter being a general act intended as a unified coverage of its subject matter, no part of it shall be construed to be impliedly repealed by subsequent legislation if that construction can be reasonably be avoided.

This chapter shall be applied and construed so as to effectuate its general purpose to make uniform the law with respect to the subject of this chapter among states enacting it.

(a) The court, upon finding as a matter of law that a contract or contract clause was unconscionable at the time the contract was made, may refuse to enforce the contract, enforce the remainder of the contract without the unconscionable clause, or limit the application of any unc…

Every contract or duty governed by this chapter imposes an obligation of good faith in its performance or enforcement.

(a) The remedies provided by this chapter shall be liberally administered to the end that the aggrieved party is put in as good a position as if the other party had fully performed. However, consequential, special or punitive damages may not be awarded except as specifically prov…

(a) From time to time the dollar amounts specified in sections 1-203 and 4-101(b)(7) must change, as provided in subsections (b) and (c), according to and to the extent of changes in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers: United States City Average,…

Except as provided in sections 1-202 and 1-203, this chapter applies to all common interest communities created within this state after the effective date of this chapter. The provisions of chapter fifty-three, acts of the Legislature, one thousand nine hundred sixty-three, chapt…

If a cooperative contains only units restricted to nonresidential use, or contains no more than twelve units and is not subject to any development rights, it is subject only to sections 1-106, (applicability of local ordinances, regulations, and building codes) and 1-107 (eminent…

If a planned community: (1) Contains no more than twelve units and is not subject to any development rights; or (2) Provides, in its declaration, that the annual average common expense liability of all units restricted to residential purposes, exclusive of optional user fees and …

(a) Except as provided in section 1-205, Same; exception for small preexisting cooperatives and planned communities, sections 1-105 (separate titles and taxation), 1-106 (Applicability of local ordinances, regulations and building codes), 1-107 (Eminent domain), 2-103 (Constructi…

If a cooperative or planned community created within this state before the effective date of this chapter contains no more than twelve units and is not subject to any development rights, it is subject only to sections 1-105 (separate titles and taxation), 1-106 (applicability of …

(a) In the case of amendments to the declaration, bylaws or plats and plans of any common interest community created before the effective date of this chapter: (1) If the result accomplished by the amendment was permitted by law prior to this chapter, the amendment may be made ei…

This chapter does not apply to a planned community in which all units are restricted exclusively to nonresidential use unless the declaration provides that the chapter does apply to that planned community. This chapter applies to a planned community containing both units that are…

(a) A common interest community may be created pursuant to this chapter only by recording a declaration executed in the same manner as a deed and, in a cooperative, by conveying the real estate subject to that declaration to the association. The declaration must be recorded in ev…

Except as provided by the declaration: (1) If walls, floors or ceilings are designated as boundaries of a unit, all lath, furring, wallboard, plasterboard, plaster, paneling, tiles, wallpaper, paint, finished flooring and any other materials constituting any part of the finished …

(a) All provisions of the declaration and bylaws are severable. (b) The rule against perpetuities does not apply to defeat any provision of the declaration, bylaws, rules or regulations adopted pursuant to section 3-102(a)(1). (c) In the event of a conflict between the provisions…

A description of a unit which sets forth the name of the common interest community, the recording data for the declaration, the county in which the common interest community is located, and the identifying number of the unit, is a legally sufficient description of that unit and a…

(a) The declaration must contain: (1) The names of the common interest community and the association and a statement that the common interest community is either a condominium, cooperative or planned community; (2) The name of every county in which any part of the common interest…

(a) Any lease, the expiration or termination of which may terminate the common interest community or reduce its size, must be recorded. Every lessor of those leases in a condominium or planned community shall sign the declaration. The declaration must state: (1) The recording dat…

(a) The declaration must allocate to each unit: (i) In a condominium, a fraction or percentage of undivided interests in the common elements and in the common expenses of the association, (section 3-115(a)) and a portion of the votes in the association; (ii) In a cooperative, an …

(a) Except for the limited common elements described in section 2-102(2) and (4), the declaration must specify to which unit or units each limited common element is allocated. An allocation may not be altered without the consent of the unit owners whose units are affected. (b) Ex…

(a) Plats and plans are a part of the declaration and are required for all common interest communities except cooperatives. Separate plats and plans are not required by this chapter if all the information required by this section is contained in either a plat or plan. Each plat a…

(a) To exercise any development right reserved under section 2-105(a)(8), the declarant shall prepare, execute and record an amendment to the declaration (section 2-117) and in a condominium or planned community comply with section 2- 109. The declarant is the unit owner of any u…

Subject to the provisions of the declaration and other provisions of law, a unit owner: (1) May make any improvements or alterations to his unit that do not impair the structural integrity or mechanical systems or lessen the support of any portion of the common interest community…

(a) Subject to the provisions of the declaration and other provisions of law, the boundaries between adjoining units may be relocated by an amendment to the declaration upon application to the association by the owners of those units. If the owners of the adjoining units have spe…

(a) If the declaration expressly so permits, a unit may be subdivided into two or more units. Subject to the provisions of the declaration and other provisions of law, upon application of a unit owner to subdivide a unit, the association shall prepare, execute and record an amend…

The existing physical boundaries of a unit or the physical boundaries of a unit reconstructed in substantial accordance with the description contained in the original declaration are its legal boundaries, rather than the boundaries derived from the description contained in the or…

A declarant may maintain sales offices, management offices and models in units or on common elements in the common interest community only if the declaration so provides and specifies the rights of a declarant with regard to the number, size, location and relocation thereof. In a…

(a) Subject to the provisions of the declaration, a declarant has an easement through the common elements as may be reasonably necessary for the purpose of discharging the declarant's obligations or exercising special declarant rights, whether arising under this chapter or reserv…

(a) Except in cases of amendments that may be executed by a declarant under section 2-109(f) or 2-110, or by the association under section 1-107, 2-106(d), 2-108(c), 2- 112(a), or 2-113, or by certain unit owners under section 2- 108(b), 2-112(a), 2-113(b), or 2-118(b), and excep…

(a) Except in the case of a taking of all the units by eminent domain (section 1-107) or in the case of foreclosure against an entire cooperative of a security interest that has priority over the declaration, a common interest community may be terminated only by agreement of unit…

The declaration may require that all or a specified number or percentage of the lenders who hold security interests encumbering the units approve specified actions of the unit owners or the association as a condition to the effectiveness of those actions, but no requirement for a…

(a) If the declaration provides that any of the powers described in section 3-102 are to be exercised by or may be delegated to a profit or nonprofit corporation or to a unincorporated association that exercises those or other powers on behalf of one or more common interest commu…

(a) Any two or more common interest communities of the same form of ownership, by agreement of the unit owners as provided in subsection (b), may be merged or consolidated into a single common interest community. In the event of a merger or consolidation, unless the agreement oth…

In a planned community, if the right is originally reserved in the declaration, the declarant in addition to any other development right, may amend the declaration at any time during as many years as are specified in the declaration for adding additional real estate to the planne…

A unit owners' association must be organized no later than the date the first unit in the common interest community is conveyed. The membership of the association at all times consists exclusively of all unit owners or, following termination of the common interest community, of a…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), and subject to the provisions of the declaration, the association, even if unincorporated, may: (1) Adopt and amend bylaws and rules and regulations; (2) Adopt and amend budgets for revenues, expenditures, and reserves and collect assessm…

(a) Except as provided in the declaration, the bylaws, subsection (b), or other provisions of this chapter, the executive board may act in all instances on behalf of the association. In the performance of their duties, the officers and members of the executive board are required …

(a) A special declarant right (section 1-103(29)) created or reserved under this chapter may be transferred only by an instrument evidencing the transfer recorded in every county in which any portion of the common interest community is located. The instrument is not effective unl…

If entered into before the executive board elected by the unit owners pursuant to section 3-103(f) takes office: (i) Any management contract, employment contract, or lease of recreational or parking areas or facilities; (ii) any other contract or lease between the association and…

(a) The bylaws of the association must provide: (1) The number of members of the executive board and the titles of the officers of the association; (2) Election by the executive board of president, treasurer, secretary, and any other officers of the association the bylaws specify…

(a) Except to the extent provided by the declaration, subsection (b), or section 3-113(h), the association is responsible for maintenance, repair, and replacement of the common elements, and each unit owner is responsible for maintenance, repair, and replacement of his unit. Each…