H920 - Condominium Association Changes. (SL 2020-52)

Overview: S.L. 2020-52 amends the North Carolina Condominium Act to:

• Specify what must be contained in an architect/engineer's certification of what the condominium plat/plan depicts, and in a professional land surveyor's certification of the statutory requirements that have been met by the plat.
• Amend the statutory requirements for the contents of a condominium declaration.
• Limit the time within which any development or declarant rights must be exercised if not specified in the declaration.
• Permit the time limit for exercising any development or declarant right as set forth in the declaration to be extended for a period of not more than 10 years by consent of owners of units to which at least 67% of the association votes are allocated.
• Require liberal construction of statutory provisions governing establishment of a condominium in favor of its validity.
• Specify purposes for which the executive board may propose a corrective amendment to the declaration and provide that upon recordation in the office of the register of deeds for the county where the condominium is located, any such correction relates back to and is effective as of the date the declaration was originally recorded.
• Provide a procedure for judicial reformation of a declaration to correct certain ambiguities, errors, inconsistencies in condominium instruments, and requiring any collateral action challenging a judgment ordering reformation to be brought within one year of the entry of judgment.
• Amend provisions governing encroachment easements.
• Provide that when a declarant's failure to substantially comply with the Condominium Act in establishing a condominium is due to defects in the drafting, execution, or recordation of the declaration, plats or plans, a condominium unit's title will be deemed marketable if there is no legal challenge to the validity of the documents establishing the condominium within four years of their recordation.
• Conform provisions in the Condominium Act to corresponding provisions in the Planned Community Act relating to executive board members and officers, meeting notice and quorum requirements, and assessments against a unit for common expenses caused by a unit occupant's misconduct.

The act's provisions for judicial reformation of a declaration became effective on October 1, 2020 and apply to actions filed on or after that date. The remainder of the act became effective on June 24, 2020.