Unapproved Changes by Prior Owner Needed To Be Fixed

This case involved a dispute between a condominium owner (“Owner”) and her homeowners association (“Association”) over unapproved changes that had been made to the front entry door to Owner’s condominium unit. Some of the changes had been made prior to Owner’s purchase of the unit in 2013, and others were made by Owner after her purchase of the unit. Association first started demanding that Owner restore the front entry door to the proper condition in 2015, and when Owner refused to make the changes that Association demanded, Association filed suit against Owner to compel the requested changes.

Association’s governing documents contained a provision that prohibited all changes to the exterior appearance of a unit without prior written approval of the Association. There was also an entrance door policy that required door handles to be either polished or bright brass in color. In 2015, Association became aware that the following changes had been made to the front door of Owner’s unit without Association’s consent: (i) a square door lock was installed; (ii) a pewter-colored lever door handle was installed; (iii) new, larger address numbers were installed on the door; and (iv) the paint color was changed to a shade of white that did not match the other front doors in the development.

For a period of several months, Association attempted to get Owner to correct the violations by sending letters and assessing fines for non-compliance. Owner took the position that, since she had not painted the door or changed the address numbers or installed the square lock, and they were the same as when she purchased the unit, she was not responsible for changing them. She also contended that she had changed the door handle as part of an alleged “emergency repair” because she was physically disabled and needed a lever-type door handle.

The trial court granted summary judgment for the requested injunctive relief in favor of :