A qualified insurer may include any of the following provisions in a qualified warranty:

     (1) If the qualified insurer makes a payment or assumes liability for any payment or repair under a qualified warranty, the owner and association must fully support and assist the qualified insurer in pursuing any rights that the qualified insurer may have against the declarant, and any construction professional that has contractual or common law obligations to the declarant, whether such rights arose by contract, subrogation, or otherwise.

     (2) Warranties or representations made by a declarant which are in addition to the warranties set forth in this chapter are not binding on the qualified insurer unless and to the extent specifically provided in the text of the warranty; and disclaimers of specific defects made by agreement between the declarant and the unit purchaser under RCW 64.34.450 act as an exclusion of the specified defect from the warranty coverage.

     (3) An owner and the association must permit the qualified insurer or declarant, or both, to enter the unit at reasonable times, after reasonable notice to the owner and the association:

     (a) To monitor the unit or its components;

     (b) To inspect for required maintenance;

     (c) To investigate complaints or claims; or

     (d) To undertake repairs under the qualified warranty.

     If any reports are produced as a result of any of the activities referred to in (a) through (d) of this subsection, the reports must be provided to the owner and the association.

     (4) An owner and the association must provide to the qualified insurer all information and documentation that the owner and the association have available, as reasonably required by the qualified insurer to investigate a claim or maintenance requirement, or to undertake repairs under the qualified warranty.

     (5) To the extent any damage to a unit is caused or made worse by the unreasonable refusal of the association, or an owner or occupant to permit the qualified insurer or declarant access to the unit for the reasons in subsection (3) of this section, or to provide the information required by subsection (4) of this section, that damage is excluded from the qualified warranty.

     (6) In any claim under a qualified warranty issued to the association, the association shall have the sole right to prosecute and settle any claim with respect to the common elements.

[2004 c 201 § 501.]