carpenter ant damage in beams of outer wall, whose responsibilty? owner or hoa

[aaasplmn]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio
We bought a condo property at sheriff's sale and realized that there may be some inner damage and that would have to redo the place, but as we started to move along in gutting the place we found two problems that involve the exterior, which means the condo association. One area was obvious with the last ice/rain storm in which water ran behind the gutters, because they are partially clogged where they drain in the ground, and the other problem is the fascia of the roof line allows it to leak. The sliding door on the upper balcony is old, which we have ordered a new door, but have to get the area inside the door and under it repaired because of water damage from the door being bad and the gutters allowing water to run into the door jam from the roof line. The other area is the outer wall, we are an end unit, and this involves a long vertical window on the bottom and top story that have the main support beam and the other wall beams around the area that are soft due to carpenter ants. The windows are old aluminum ones that sweat, but the board directly beneath the window is not damaged. The mulch/dirt line on the outside was 10 inches above the foundation slab level. We have had an exterminator out to identify the insect and the problem/ problems. There are cracks all over the outer stucco wall around the windows but also around the chimney area and throughout. The roof line only hangs over 1-2 inches from the building with no gutter on this angle, so the water can rain or drain right up to the building. The problem that we are having is that we have had city certified contractors (3 bids) and the exterminator, along with the window installation professional out to review the situation and they have all looked at the high ground level outside the window and said there is your problem. I also had the property manager and the maintenance person out to review and take pictures of the damage. This process of trying to get the association to respond and be involved has taken 3 months. When they finallly made a decision they stated in their letter that the wall damage is solely due to our windows in that area. I had been trying to be fair and objective and had presented this problem as a multifactorial problem with professional opinions and that is was not a single factor problem and that the association had some responsibilty in their negligance of allowing the dirt/mulch to be that high which invited the insects to the area. I asked for the credentials and references of the individuals who had made their decision and they will not offer it up. This insect problem has occurred previously in other units in the building. We are considering seeking legal action because we do not feel that the whole wall is our total responsibilty.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by aaasplmn

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio
We bought a condo property at sheriff's sale and realized that there may be some inner damage and that would have to redo the place, but as we started to move along in gutting the place we found two problems that involve the exterior, which means the condo association. One area was obvious with the last ice/rain storm in which water ran behind the gutters, because they are partially clogged where they drain in the ground, and the other problem is the fascia of the roof line allows it to leak. The sliding door on the upper balcony is old, which we have ordered a new door, but have to get the area inside the door and under it repaired because of water damage from the door being bad and the gutters allowing water to run into the door jam from the roof line. The other area is the outer wall, we are an end unit, and this involves a long vertical window on the bottom and top story that have the main support beam and the other wall beams around the area that are soft due to carpenter ants. The windows are old aluminum ones that sweat, but the board directly beneath the window is not damaged. The mulch/dirt line on the outside was 10 inches above the foundation slab level. We have had an exterminator out to identify the insect and the problem/ problems. There are cracks all over the outer stucco wall around the windows but also around the chimney area and throughout. The roof line only hangs over 1-2 inches from the building with no gutter on this angle, so the water can rain or drain right up to the building. The problem that we are having is that we have had city certified contractors (3 bids) and the exterminator, along with the window installation professional out to review the situation and they have all looked at the high ground level outside the window and said there is your problem. I also had the property manager and the maintenance person out to review and take pictures of the damage. This process of trying to get the association to respond and be involved has taken 3 months. When they finallly made a decision they stated in their letter that the wall damage is solely due to our windows in that area. I had been trying to be fair and objective and had presented this problem as a multifactorial problem with professional opinions and that is was not a single factor problem and that the association had some responsibilty in their negligance of allowing the dirt/mulch to be that high which invited the insects to the area. I asked for the credentials and references of the individuals who had made their decision and they will not offer it up. This insect problem has occurred previously in other units in the building. We are considering seeking legal action because we do not feel that the whole wall is our total responsibilty.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

**A: the answer lies in your HOA docs.