HOA & condominium associations
Legal strategy, construction and insurance experience, and community association management expertise for serious building-wide repair problems. Give the board a clear account of the work, the funding questions and the decisions ahead.
No fee unless money is recovered on accepted matters, subject to a written fee agreement.
Representative results
12-unit condominium property
Defective siding and window installation
The settlement secured full, complete repairs for the 12-unit condo property, including a building-wide repair process and owner-side supervision of the work.
Read the case resultRepresentative results are examples only. Every matter depends on its own facts, evidence, timing, contracts, policies, parties, defenses, damages, and applicable law. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
Your multidisciplinary team
The community association management expert connects the board’s practical responsibilities with construction and claims analysis. Kelly brings those observations into the legal strategy, while the board retains its decisions.
Kelly McCann · Attorney
Connect the building evidence, potential responsibility and payment sources to a legal strategy.
Sarah Harper · Insurance & Property Claims Advisor
Identify gaps between the repair evidence, the claim file and the insurer’s stated payment position.
Former construction superintendent
Test whether a proposed repair accounts for access, sequencing, affected assemblies and the work needed to put the building back together.
Community association management expert
Bring board decisions, resident access, owner communication and funding pressures into the repair-and-recovery plan.
Commercial real estate expert
Connect repair timing to tenants, operating income, carrying costs and the owner’s constraints.
For the board
A Board Decision Packet brings the findings, open questions and proposed next step together for the board’s review. Its scope is tailored to the association and the decision ahead.
Board Decision Packet · excerpt
Information for a condominium board before authorizing investigation work.
Decision requested
The specialist proposes openings at the two locations with recurring staining. Approval should cover the written scope, fee and resident-access arrangements.
Staining is visible near two windows. The photographs do not establish where water enters or how much concealed material is affected. A surface patch would leave those questions unanswered.
The specialist needs to trace the water-entry path and record the condition of the concealed materials. Findings at these locations may support a repair scope; they will not, by themselves, establish the condition of every window.
Management confirms access with the affected residents. The specialist documents the openings and findings. The team returns to the board with the results, proposed repair scope and any further investigation needed.
Hypothetical example. No client matter or result is depicted.
Your existing advisers
Our community association management expert works with the board’s existing manager and general counsel. The former superintendent helps examine repair and investigation questions; the former senior adjuster helps evaluate the claim record. Kelly connects their observations to the legal strategy and the board’s next decision.
We coordinate with the association’s engineer, architect, contractor and other advisers rather than automatically replacing them. The engagement defines litigation counsel’s role, and the board, management and general counsel retain their respective governance and operational responsibilities.
Through a change of board
Dated decision logs, current responsibilities and decision-focused updates help new board members understand prior choices without starting the claim again. We identify what is settled, what remains open and what needs action next, with management and general counsel involved as appropriate.
Owners need a clear distinction between investigating a possible recovery and funding repairs now. Neither a claim nor a lawsuit guarantees full funding or removes the need to consider reserves, assessments or urgent work.
And so, and then they come to us. And what we do is we send out our team of experts to determine, one, what's the nature of the problem? Two, what needs to get done to fix it, and three, how much it's gonna cost to fix it. We also have a community manager, for HOAs on our team, and this really helps us communicate, with the board of HOAs, understanding that they're volunteers, how to reduce the load on that and make things very easy and make communication with the homeowners very easy, when we represent HOAs.
Begin with a short summary of the issue, the property and the decisions ahead. Prepare the records listed here; the firm will explain which documents to provide and how to provide them.
Sarah Harper
The first person that's going to be setting the reserve would be the adjuster that investigates the claim, determines liability, and coverage. If the claim goes above that adjuster's authority level, then it would go to the supervisor. And then above that, it would go to a committee who would review the file and determine if the number is appropriate or whether it needs to be modified. So a takeaway from that would be to confirm that all information is given to the adjuster so that they can properly evaluate the claim and set the appropriate reserve for settlement. Ask the adjuster in writing what their authority level is and who the file goes to above them.
Fees & costs
Before representation begins, the written agreement explains attorney fees, the expenses advanced, and how reimbursement is handled—including if there is no recovery.
We generally handle accepted matters on contingency. The agreement sets the fee and the terms that apply to your representation.
We advance litigation costs, including agreed expert and investigation expenses. These are the costs of developing and pursuing the claim.
The money needed to perform construction repairs is separate. Advancing claim expenses does not mean Northwest finances the building work or guarantees full repair funding.
Tell us what happened, who is involved and the decisions you need to make. A complete repair scope or a settled legal theory is not needed to request the initial review.
