St Elmo Condominium

Chautauqua NY

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Owner Unit Remodeling Regulations and Requirements

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13 January 2025
St Elmo Condominium
Owner Unit Remodeling Regulations and Requirements

To All Owners planning to remodel their units:

The St Elmo Board of Managers (BOM) believes the well planned and executed remodeling of your unit incrementally increases the value and desirability of the entire condominium community, and we encourage your effort.  Remodeling means anything beyond painting, re-carpeting, or changing light fixtures — carpentry, electrical wiring, rerouting plumbing, etc., constitute remodeling.  Your primary contact will be the building manager’s office (associations@teamvp.com), so please begin by discussing your plans with them to avoid problems later.  The Board wishes to remind you that compliance with the governing documents referenced below is required, and we encourage all owners to become familiar with the full text of those documents.  The following referenced sections in particular pertain to remodeling.  

  1. Remodeling of residential and commercial units by owners is governed by the BOM with reference to the various clauses of the governing documents of the St Elmo Condominium, those being the Declaration (link), Bylaws (link), and Policy Manual (link) found in the Owners section of the St Elmo website.  
  2. All units are also subject to regulations of the Chautauqua Institution (link).  It is the owner’s responsibility to determine the applicability of the Chautauqua Institution documents.  See Declaration, Section 10.01
    Specifically and without limitation Owner and Contractor should take particular note of the following regulations contained in the Chautauqua Institution Architectural and Land Use Regulations:
    * Article 8.1.6:   No remodeling work during the Summer Assembly Season, and no remodeling work from 7 pm to 7 am during the off-season.
    * Article 8.2.1: Contractor responsible for obtaining a License Certificate.
    * Article 8.2.3: Owner responsible for obtaining a Compliance Certificate.
  3. All remodeling and construction activities will require the owner make a non-refundable payment of a common area housekeeping and maintenance fee, the amount based on unit square footage as follows:
                Unit size up to 500 square feet — $250
                                         501 to 1,000 sq. ft. — $500
                                         1,001 + sq. ft. — $750
    Any documented damage to the building common area walls, flooring, equipment and fixtures which may exceed the above fee schedule will be billed to the owner at the cost of repair by the St Elmo Condominium Board of Managers, Inc.  It is also required that a copy of the revised remodeling guidelines be signed by all new unit owners at their purchase closing.
  4. To help maintain building security the unit owner should notify the building office of what contractor will be working in their unit.
  5. Prior written approval by the BOM is required for installation of appliances which are overly heavy or noisy, or for any structural addition, alteration or improvement to the units.  This submission should include the name of the construction contractor engaged by the owner.  We recommend the owner consult the list of approved contractors promulgated by the Chautauqua Institution (link).  See Bylaws, Sec. 7.08 b.
  6. Replacement of carpeting with vinyl, tile or wood flooring shall first be approved by the BOM, to address possible noise transference to the unit below.  See Policy Manual, L.1 
  7. Visual inspection by the building construction supervisor shall be required of all structural alterations and electrical wiring before drywall is installed.
  8. If your contractor has not worked in the St Elmo before we highly recommend that he or she contact our building construction supervisor through the St Elmo management office to review specifications, primarily plumbing and electrical, that are unique to St Elmo.  Our supervisor is an independent contractor and will bill you direct for his time.
  9. All work shall conform to the Building Code of New York State, Chautauqua County building codes, New York State workers compensation and federal OSHA regulations.
  10. If, during the course of remodeling, a unit owner or his contractor becomes aware of a previous violation of a building code that involves life or safety issues, the owner is expected to correct such violation.
  11. Unit owners have an access easement to other units to facilitate repair or replacements in their own units.  See Declaration, Sec. 6.01; Bylaws, Sec. 3.02(e) and 7.02; and Bylaws Rules and Regulations Schedule A (9)
  12. BOM also has an access easement for inspections in all units, to make repairs to common elements, and to remove violations. See Declaration, Sec. 6.02.  BOM has the right to inspect, but not the duty to do so; responsibility for compliance and quality of the work rests with the owner and contractor.
  13. All remodeling or repair work in the units shall conform to the quality of the original construction.  See Bylaws, Sec. 7.03
  14. The hallways and other common areas shall not be obstructed by materials storage or construction machinery. See Bylaws, Sch. A. 5.  Short-term staging of materials in the hallway immediately adjacent to the unit being remodeled shall be removed at the end of work each day.  Also contractors are not to dispose of construction refuse in the condominium bins, containers, or dumpsters, but should be hauled off-site each day.
  15. Damage resulting from the remodeling work shall be the responsibility of the owner [and contractor.]  See Bylaws, Sch. A. 8.
  16. BOM shall execute any application for a construction permit, however, BOM will not be responsible for determining the need of a permit, for completion of the application, for securing the permit, or for the quality of the work performed.  See Bylaws, Sec. 7.08.b.
  17. Unit owners shall agree in writing to indemnify and hold harmless the BOM for all claims arising from the construction undertaken.  BOM may also require separate insurance to cover such construction. See Bylaws, 7.08.b. and R&R Sch. A. 8.  For the owner’s protection we highly recommend the owner secure similar indemnity and hold harmless agreements and insurance from their contractor.
  18. Unit owner’s remodeling shall not cause an increase in the insurance rates of the Condominium.  See Bylaws, Sec. 8.04

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