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One of the more common procedural tasks handled by property management companies is periodic exterior inspections. These inspections, typically made by management companies, with the assistance of the HOA board members in facilitating them, are an important part of maintaining an HOA’s quality and living standards dictated by state and local laws.
Management company inspections are usually handled on a rolling basis. These periodic inspections could be anywhere from a monthly to an annual occurrence. The needs of the HOA should dictate the frequency of these occurrences to create a joint agreement brought together between the management company and respective HOA board, following any rules or regulations specified in the HOA’s governing documents regarding inspection times.
Although HOA inspections can include all kinds of areas within the HOA, here we are mainly focused on exterior inspections, what those encompass, and how to make sure as a property manager you’re able to inspect the entirety of the HOA’s exteriors exhaustively.
Exterior inspections are primarily focused on the exterior structures of the buildings within the HOA, whether those be individual residences or community buildings.
By doing so, the management company and HOA board can further establish whether those deteriorations warrant fixing and whether the HOA or the homeowner will be responsible for doing so.
This is a fairly relative question (as you will see from this example) that may depend on the HOA you’re inspecting and how your management company and the HOA board decide to consider certain aspects of the community. For instance, many community amenities or common areas within an HOA may be considered “exterior,” such as a community pool or parking lot. Still, they may fall under a completely different type of inspection. However, in almost all cases, exterior inspections will focus on the outside components directly attached to formed structures and buildings around the HOA.
If it is decided that the exterior items list should be expanded to more community-based areas, these inspections could include:
This is where your management company and the HOA board should look towards the HOA rules or agree on how to itemize these inspections and decide where certain HOA structures should fall.
Still feeling a little confused about where to get started on organizing an efficient and thorough exterior inspection? Download our HOA Exterior Inspections Checklist that shows property managers what to be documenting during an exterior inspection and what they should be looking for during their analysis.