This is part 7 of Randy Sawyer’s 16 Part series on UCIOA. You can read previous posts here.
Section 87, subsection (g)
’87(g) – At any time subsequent to the tolling of the statute of limitations, as set forth in the declarant’s reply, the declarant may give written notice terminating the tolling of the statute of limitations. Upon delivery of the termination notice, the association shall be relieved of its obligation to arbitrate under subsection f. of this section, but, provided declarant has satisfied its obligations under subsections b. and d. of this subsection, the association shall be required to satisfy its obligations under subsections h. and I. of this section. The tolling of any applicable statutes of limitation shall terminate 180 days following the commencement of the tolling, unless extended by mutual written agreement.
This provision of Section 87 of UCIOA is troubling. It gives the developer, and only the developer, the control over the tolling of the statutes of limitations. This means that the developer can issue a reply to the Association’s notice of a claim, agree therein to toll the statutes of limitations, then conduct its inspection. Once its inspections are completed, the developer can then terminate the tolling of the statute of limitations, which will relieve the Association of having to arbitrate over its claims, but will not relieve it of having to go through the voting process with its unit owners. This simply allows the developer to limit the tolling of the statute of limitations to the time it takes for the developer to conduct its inspections. The statutes of limitations then begin to run while the Association goes through the burdensome process of getting unit owner approval for a suit. There is no discernible benefit to Associations from this provision.