Another MA Surveyors question

Never heard of such a thing,

But I live in CT.

Good timing! I went through this last Friday with a local land attorney.

He asked me to remove from my condo site plan the note "This plan fully and accurately depicts the layout, location, unit number and dimensions of the units as-built" that I have put on every condo site plan I have ever done. He said that note only goes on the floor plans.

Thinking he was nuts, I looked it up: MGL ch 183A Sect 8(f) says the note must be on "A set of floor plans of the building or buildings..." There is no mention at all of a site plan, thus it is not actually required unless you need to show EAU's etc.

Also see this link: http://www.mcle.org/includes/pdf/1880134B00_S.pdf
The attorney who wrote it says: "Although G.L. c. 183A does not specifically require either a site plan or an elevation (which shows the side of the building), it is good practice to include both."

However, it appears that a site plan IS required by Land Court regulations if the condo is on registered land.

Jeff

Uhh...I meant EUAs - Exclusive Use Areas

http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleI/Chapter183a

From Section 8, Requirements of the Master Deed:

(b) A description of the land on which the building or buildings and improvements are located.

(c) A description of each building stating the number of stories, the number of units if there is more than one and the principal materials of which it is constructed.

(d) The unit designation of each unit, and a statement of its location, approximate area, number of rooms, and immediate common area to which it has access, and any other data necessary for its proper identification.

(e) A description of the common areas and facilities and the proportionate interest of each unit therein.

(f) A set of the floor plans of the building or buildings, showing the layout, location, unit numbers and dimensions of the units, stating the name of the building or that it has not a name, and bearing the verified statement of a registered architect, registered professional engineer, or registered land surveyor, certifying that the plans fully and accurately depict the layout, location, unit number and dimensions of the units as built.

(g) A statement of the purposes for which the building and each of the units are intended and the restrictions, if any, as to their use.

Yes, the Condominium Law of MA need a bit of overhauling. The Subdivision Control Law was in line first and we hope to have a revision to that by 2015 or 2018 or perhaps later.

Good luck defining an Exclusive Use Area with an Attorney and an Architect.

Although G.L. c. 183A does not specifically require either a site plan or an elevation (which shows the side of the building), it is good practice to include both. The elevation need not be detailed, since its only purpose is to show the outline of the building and the height of the various floors. The theory behind requiring ele-vations is that condominiums are to some extent horizontal prop-erty, and if a condominium building is destroyed, an elevation will be necessary in order to locate the floors. If your client is offering to sell easements for the exclusive use of parking spaces (see Massachusetts Condominium Law ch. 2 (MCLE, Inc. 2d ed. 2008 & Supp. 2009)), or if the master deed grants to a specific unit owner or owners an easement to use one or more areas of the land (for example, a garden plot), a site plan will be mandatory because there will be no other way to depict the easement areas.

There's the pertinent paragraph.

:good:

-V

sorry, not in mass yet... but we just did 2 different "condos" in Miami, and we only had condo documents that were filed with the state (which had various errors)as well as architectual plans. My thoughts are that some contractor had to have something approved to start construction. try to start there....

I don't believe there is any state regulation but most individual registries require site plans, although there doesn't seem to be much enforcement. I do see a lot of architect-stamped site plans though, complete with distances in feet and inches and riddled with errors. Kind of dumb to lie on a signed document and then submit it to be permanently recorded, if you ask me. Feel free to mail copies of any you find to the Board of Registration.

I'm really surprised at how this change slipped through! Were we asleep at the wheel or something? I never heard about until it was done, and at that point I thought the only change was that unit plans were no longer required. I thought that was a good idea, it always seemed redundant when you could just refer to the floor plans.

At least the Land Court has retained some common sense.

Now we will have to work to modify the revised statutes.

Don

Don, A condominium is really just a conglomeration of easements and there are no requirements for plans associated with easements. Yes, it would be right for every condominium to have a site plan, just as it would be right for every easement to include a sketch prepared by a surveyor.

How many times have I read a deed describing an easement where I find one of my firm's plans photo-reduced and marked up by some lawyer attached? Only all the time. How many times have I found one of these sketches that actually has a valid mathematical solution? Only when they don't put any math on the plan.

Another MA Surveyors question>UPDATE

I took some time to go back through my older condominium requirements and I have found that site plans were never required except for registered land.

I also received an answer from the Board of Registration that said that verified that information. Site plans are not required but it is advisable.

And here I was thinking that Condominium plans required, 1) Site plan to locate the buildings, 2) floor plans to locate the units...

I will disagree with spledeus that these are just easements. These folks are buying a fee interest in a defined 3 dimensional space located within the boundaries of a larger parcel...

Dtp