## Facts

- Laurance J. Ochs owned a unit in the West End Condominium and was a member of the West End Condominium Association.
- The condominium building’s façade was designated a common element, in which each unit owner held an undivided percentage interest.
- L’Enfant Trust, a nonprofit that holds conservation easements, proposed that the Association donate a conservation easement in the façade to preserve the building’s exterior character.
- The proposed easement would encumber the façade and give the Trust review and approval rights over exterior changes.
- The Association pursued the transaction by seeking the Trust’s preliminary acceptance, commissioning an appraisal, and obtaining an IRS letter ruling regarding the Trust’s tax-exempt status.
- The Association circulated a written voting package to unit owners to obtain approval it believed was required.
- To fund expenses associated with the easement donation, the Association levied a special assessment on all unit owners except two foreign owners who could not use the anticipated U.S. income-tax deduction.
- Ochs sued to invalidate the easement, challenge the special assessment, and contest an attorney’s-fee award entered in favor of the Association.
- The trial court upheld the easement and the assessment and awarded the Association $10,000 in attorney’s fees.

## Issues

1. Whether the Association had statutory and documentary authority to grant a conservation easement encumbering a common element without unanimous unit-owner consent.
2. Whether the Association could impose a special assessment on fewer than all unit owners based on who would benefit from the expense.
3. Whether the trial court improperly included certain costs and legal expenses in the attorney’s-fee award, requiring recalculation.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the trial court’s validation of the conservation easement.
- The court affirmed the trial court’s approval of the special assessment limited to owners eligible to benefit from the related tax deduction.
- The court reversed in part the attorney’s-fee award and remanded for further proceedings to recalculate fees consistent with the proper scope of recoverable items.

## Legal Principles

- Under the D.C. Condominium Act, an association may grant an easement through a common element if the governing instruments do not impose a more restrictive limitation.
- A unit owner’s undivided interest in common elements is held subject to the statutory and contractual powers granted to the association for management and control of those elements.
- A condominium association may allocate a special assessment to fewer than all unit owners when the expense is properly treated as a common expense that benefits only certain owners, and the governing instruments do not prohibit benefit-based allocation.
- Attorney’s fees in condominium litigation must be limited to categories authorized by applicable statute or condominium instruments; inclusion of broader defense costs may require remand and revision.

## Conclusion

The court held that the Association had authority to donate a conservation easement in the condominium’s façade and to assess only those owners who could benefit from the related tax consequences, but it required the trial court to reconsider the attorney’s-fee award because it included improper items.


Ochs v. L'Enfant Tr. & W. End Condo. Ass'n, 504 A.2d 1110 (D.C. 1986)