During the early phases of a community, the developer Board and management company will find themselves in position to complete a common area transfer. This might entail open-space landscape or townhome-style buildings with association-provided maintenance.
Community Manager | Viridian
Ron Stephens, community manager at Viridian in the Dallas area, shared the following tips he’s learned through more than decade of partnering with developers on common area acceptance initiatives.
- Adopt a common area transfer policy. After reviewing your governing documents, put in place a policy that describes your expectations of the process. It is also a good idea to include a threshold for when a third-party inspection of the common area will be required.
- Assemble the right team. Along with representatives of the developer, the builder and CCMC, consider including a third-party inspector and members of your irrigation and maintenance teams. Everyone is going to have a different set of eyes.
- Conduct a thorough inspection before signing transfer approval. Once the paperwork is signed, you have assumed responsibility for the area and any concerns that might be discovered. Warranty issues will be covered, but you could find yourself holding the bill for other problems.
- Create an inspection checklist. This will provide you a guide for your inspection and allow you to ensure all your bases are covered before signing the acceptance forms.
- Consider completing a pre-walk with members of your team prior to the final walk. This will save everyone time, as you’re able to prepare a list of necessary corrections before everyone prepares for the final inspection.
- If accepting transfer of physical building construction, leave a space between what you accept and where work is ongoing. As construction continues on adjacent buildings, there’s potential for the landscape or irrigation to be damaged. If you’ve already accepted responsibility, this becomes your issue to deal with.
- If you’re unsure of the situation or have questions, secure a third-party perspective. There’s no harm in calling an outside source to provide an additional recommendation.
CCMC is proud of our collaboration with developer partners. If you have questions regarding common area transfers, please contact your local community manager or vice president.