A homeowner association is required to regularly inspect the portions of the property it maintains as part of the reserve study process.
Officers Managers and Committees
The law does not explicitly state that the reserve study must be performed by a qualified expert but does require that it be reasonably competent and diligent. In practice, the competency requirement probably cannot be satisfied without one or more outside experts, and the board will be exposing its members, and the HOA itself, to a risk of liability to owners and/or mortgage lenders if it does not use an outside expert to perform the reserve study.
A reserve study is a careful analysis of the future repair and replacement needs of a homeowner association based on the condition of the elements of the property it maintains, a projection of the remaining useful life of these elements and future cost to repair or replace them, and the amount of money the association has in its reserve fund. A reserve funding plan is a plan for collecting funds from the owners through regular and/or special assessments to fund the reserve needs of the association. Both Washington and Oregon require each HOA to undertake a new reserve study at least once every three years, subject to some specific exceptions.