Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Arizona
My elderly parents own a winter home in Mesa, AZ. in a mobile home retirement community.
They own the mobile home and the land. The community is incorporated and there is a Board of Directors. This past year the decision was made to assess each owner $1500 for the purpose of have the streets repaved. The repaving took place this past late Spring after most of the tenants had left for the season. During the preparation of the street in front of my parents property, the contractor cut the line for the phone service to my parents property (the phone lines are installed underground, rather than off of a pole). Being that my parents were not there while the work was being done (they were back at their main home in Virginia), they were not aware this had happened until they prepared to return for the winter this year. When the phone company was contacted to go connect the phone for the season, they discovered the problem and called to inform my parents. At that time, my father called and spoke with the President of the Board.
The response that he got was that it was not the Board's problem, and that if my parents wanted the phone to be connected, they would have to pay to have the street dug up and the problem repaired. Can you advise if my parents have any legal ground to force the Board to absorb the cost of repairing the cut phone line, since the Board hired the contractor at the behest of all the residents of the community...and assuming that the contractor was liable for assuring that these sorts of things would not happen, given that they had a layout of the utilities located within the community. As an aside, the contractor also cut the power supply line (also installed under the street) to my parents ( as well as their next door neighbors) property and did absorb the cost of having that repaired by the local power company. My oarents were only aware that this had happened because the neighbor called them in Virginia to inform them.
1 Answer from Attorneys
The HOA and the contractor are very much potentially liable for the damages caused and whatever it may cost to repair them. Moreover, the fact that the paver fixed the power supply problem indicates that they tacitly admitted responsibility for accidentally cutting electrical lines underground in the course of repaving the drives. If the HOA refuses to remedy the problem, and so does the contractor, I would file in small claims (or regular) court to get this damage fixed.
Best of luck!
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