2026-09-10 · Massachusetts · Courts

What happened. The Massachusetts Appeals Court held that a condominium association is not an “owner” for purposes of the cost-shifting proviso in the state anti-discrimination statute, and therefore is not required to pay for reasonable modifications a disabled unit owner needs — even where the area modified is common area under the master deed.

Geezil v. White Cliffs Condominium Four Association, 105 Mass. App. Ct. 103, docket 23-P-1103, was decided 13 November 2024.¹ It overturned the position the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination had taken since a 2010 decision, and it remains the controlling authority nearly two years on.

The facts

Mary McLellan owned a unit at White Cliffs Condominium Four in Plymouth. She sought association funding to modify a patio that was hers exclusively but was common area under the master deed. Her MCAD and HUD complaints were dismissed. She sued under M.G.L. c. 151B §4(6), (7) and (7A). She died in June 2021, and her daughter Kathleen Geezil continued as personal representative.

The statutory question

The cost-shifting proviso in §4(7A)(1) makes modifications the owner's expense “in the case of publicly assisted housing, multiple dwelling housing consisting of ten or more units, or contiguously located housing consisting of ten or more units.”

Everything turned on whether the association is an owner.

The holding

It is not. The association functions as a manager; the unit owners collectively own the common areas. The court reasoned that because the Legislature elsewhere in c. 151B distinguishes “owner” from “any organization of unit owners in a condominium,” it did not intend to impose the modification cost on associations.

The court also read “contiguously located housing” under §1(12) in the present tense: the definition turns on housing that is offered for sale, lease or rental. Housing that was once offered does not qualify.

Summary judgment for the association was affirmed.

1. Geezil v. White Cliffs Condominium Four Association, 105 Mass. App. Ct. 103 (13 November 2024), full opinion text ↩
2. CourtListener record: docket 23-P-1103, decision date and published status ↩
3. Bowditch & Dewey, case note on Geezil ↩