Court Opinion

ID: 4751983
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2021-08-12 17:46:23.857144+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:08:44.988282
License: Public Domain

¶24 (concurring) — I fully concur with the majority opinion. I write to emphasize additional reasoning for the result.
Appelwick, C.J.
¶25 First, a condominium is real property. That real property interest includes an ownership interest in, right to share in, and an easement to use the common areas and facilities. RCW 64.32.030, .040, .050(4). Further, common areas shall remain undivided and any covenant to the contrary is void. RCW 64.32.050(3). According to the declaration here, the common areas include everything not an apartment or designated limited common area.
¶26 When construction on the units was complete, any optional bonus room shown on the plans that had not been constructed was not within an apartment. It was also not designated as limited common area. Therefore it was common area. Later enclosing this common area to add a bonus room onto an adjacent apartment is a taking of a common area interest owned by all members of the condominium. This may not be done without the consent of all owners.
¶27 It is precisely for this reason that State v. McLendon was wrongly decided. 84 Wn. App. 629, 929 P.2d 1140 (1997). McLendon allowed the combination of a common area storage shed with an apartment on less than a unanimous vote under RCW 64.32.090(10) (authorizing the declaration to provide combining or dividing apartments, common areas and limited common areas on less than unanimous vote of owners). This statute and section 12 of the declaration must be read to apply only to combining or dividing like-kind properties. Otherwise, the other owners are deprived of a portion of their real property ownership interest in common areas without consent, let alone compensation.
*369¶28 Further, I would hold that the addition of a room at the expense of common area necessarily increases the value of that apartment and of the condominium as a whole. It also necessarily changes the ownership interests of all owners relative to one another. This in turn requires amendment to the declaration. Unanimous consent of the owners is required for amending the declaration. RCW 64.32.090(13).
¶29 If the additional room was built on new footings off the end of a one story building, eliminating a prized common area garden and blocking the exclusive view of the sound for other owners, the facts would tug more at the emotions. But the loss of real property interests are just as real on these facts, where the additional room is built on a second story of a townhouse condominium above a garage, blocking light. These real property interests cannot be taken. Consent of all of the owners is required. For these reasons and the reasons stated by the majority, I concur.
Reconsideration denied May 22, 2008.