Can a condo roof be cleaned?

The word condo is used loosely, and Florida statute is not loose about it, so the building gets sorted before anything is said about its roof.

In a condominium the owner holds title to a unit and a share of what surrounds it, so the roof question runs through Chapter 718. On a villa or townhouse parcel in a homeowners association, the owner holds title to the parcel itself, and Chapter 720 governs the association instead.

Florida's condominium statute does not say that a roof is a common element. The statute defines the categories and leaves the building parts to the declaration.

Section 718.103(9) defines common elements as “the portions of the condominium property not included in the units,” and 718.103(31) makes a unit the part subject to exclusive ownership “as specified in the declaration.” Because the declaration specifies the units, what is left over as common elements follows from that declaration. The statute names no roof, wall or walkway.

Section 718.113(1) then assigns the work: “Maintenance of the common elements is the responsibility of the association, except for any maintenance responsibility for limited common elements assigned to the unit owner by the declaration.” That exception is why no general rule about condo roofs holds up. How a declaration can split maintenance for a limited common element, and how the association contracts for the rest, is answered under who is responsible for roof cleaning in a condo.

Even where an owner cares most about a roof, the statute puts a limit on acting alone over property the association maintains.

Section 718.113(3) reads: “A unit owner shall not do anything within his or her unit or on the common elements which would adversely affect the safety or soundness of the common elements or any portion of the association property or condominium property which is to be maintained by the association.” Section 718.303(1) adds that unit owners and their tenants and invitees, along with the association itself, must comply with Chapter 718, the declaration, the documents creating the association and the bylaws.

Whether arranging work on a shared roof falls under that sentence is a question for the association and its counsel, not a cleaner. Where the roof is association property to maintain, the person who orders the cleaning is the board or its manager, working under the declaration.

When the declaration shows a homeowners association and a parcel rather than a condominium and a unit, the roof question changes shape.

The roof sits on property the parcel owner holds title to, and what the association can say about how it looks comes from the community's declaration of covenants and the guidelines it authorizes. The limit Florida puts on that appearance authority is quoted in the Florida rules that touch a roof cleaning. In communities that review exterior appearance through an architectural review committee, that committee's published standards are part of the same paper trail.

Attached villas and townhouses share roof lines, so neighbors can end up with one roof surface split across several parcels. Where one owner's roof ends and the next begins is a question for the recorded documents, not for the tile. What has to happen around a building while its roof is soft washed is covered on what sits under the roof during a soft wash.