2026-09-12 · Minnesota · Courts

What happened. The Minnesota Court of Appeals held that an association breached its declaration by specially assessing the entire cost of a common-element masonry repair against only the two units in the affected building.

Monica Mohn v. City Homes on Park Avenue Owners' Association, No. A24-1254, was filed 7 April 2025, affirming in part and reversing in part. It is nonprecedential — under Minn. R. Civ. App. P. 136.01, subd. 1(c), persuasive authority only, not binding.¹

The facts

Deck replacement at a 120-year-old duplex building, one of 19 buildings in a Minneapolis common interest community, exposed badly decayed brickwork. The association paid for emergency masonry repair, then by board resolution specially assessed the entire cost against only the two units in that building — reasoning that they were the “only units that will benefit.”

The holding on allocation

Under this declaration, the association may not allocate the cost of repairing a COMMON element to fewer than all units.

The discretion to charge fewer than all units exists for limited common elements, and for “common expenses” benefitting fewer than all units. But “common element” and “common expense” are not interchangeable terms, and the association breached the declaration by assessing common-element masonry solely against two units.

The two words the case turns on

The declaration provided that the association “shall be responsible for the maintenance, repair, alteration, improvements and replacement of the Common Elements and, to the extent determined appropriate by the Board, the Limited Common Elements.”

The provision the association relied on said: “The Association may assess any Common Expense benefitting fewer than all of the Units against the Units benefitted” — tracking Minn. Stat. § 515B.3-115(e)(1).

But “common expense” was defined as “expenditures made or liabilities incurred by or on behalf of the Association” — a broader category than “common element.” The board had read across from one defined term to the other, and the court would not let it.

The association's own document was used against it

The court leaned on the association's “Maintenance Responsibility Matrix”, which listed “siding—masonry” as an association responsibility funded from operating or reserve expense, while listing “deck” — a limited common element — as owner-assessment funded.

1. Mohn v. City Homes on Park Avenue Owners’ Ass’n, No. A24-1254 (Minn. Ct. App. 7 Apr. 2025) (nonprecedential) — slip opinion ↩
2. Minn. Stat. § 515B.3-115 — assessments for common expenses ↩
3. Laws 2026, ch. 82 (S.F. 1750) — budget circulation, open meetings and grievance provisions ↩