About the Building
Barrington Court is a purpose-built condominium tract of 1985 recorded as Tract 36868, Lot 1, and the Los Angeles County Assessor carries twenty-two separately assessed homes on it, numbered condominium units one to twenty-two under assessment numbers 4262027049 through 4262027070. Every one of them is coded 010C, the county's classification for a condominium built as a condominium rather than converted from something else. That is a stronger starting point than it sounds. Party walls, garages, drainage, utility separation and sound isolation were all designed for individual ownership from the outset, and the recorded map is the document the homes were built to rather than one imposed afterwards.
The address needs correcting. A condominium directory describes the complex as 1901 to 1918 South Barrington Avenue together with 11662 to 11674 Missouri Avenue. The county roll shows something different and more interesting. Seven homes address 1906, 1908, 1910, 1912, 1914, 1916 and 1918 Barrington Avenue. Eight address 11660, 11662, 11664, 11666, 11668, 11670, 11672 and 11674 Missouri Avenue. The remaining seven address 1901, 1903, 1905, 1907, 1909, 1911 and 1915 Barry Avenue, one street over. Unit one, the first parcel in the sequence, is 1915 Barry Avenue. That third frontage is not a detail; it changes which comparable sales belong to this association.
The plan mix is unusually uniform. All twenty-two homes carry three bedrooms and three bathrooms on the roll, and the recorded areas group tightly: two homes at 1,846 square feet, eleven at 1,887, five at 1,905, two at 1,937 and two at 1,995. A directory publishes a range of 1,885 to 1,995 square feet, which captures the middle of the distribution but clips both ends. If you are comparing two homes here, the difference between the smallest and the largest is under eight per cent, so the variables that actually move value are frontage, light, garage configuration and how much has been done inside.
Year built is given as 1985 on twenty-one of the twenty-two parcels and 1983 on one. Small inconsistencies of this kind are common where a project was permitted and completed across two calendar years, or where one home was reassessed after later work. The recorded tract number, 36868, sits in the range Los Angeles County was issuing in the early 1980s, which is consistent with a map recorded a year or two before the homes were finished. Treat 1985 as the working date and expect a title report to show the map recorded earlier.
There is also a name to be careful about. A separate complex called Barrington Court stands at 514 South Barrington Avenue in Brentwood, likewise built in 1985 and likewise described as townhomes, and brokerage building pages for the two are easy to confuse. The Sawtelle property described here is the one recorded as Tract 36868 with twenty-two units addressing Barrington, Missouri and Barry Avenues in the 90025 zip. Check the assessment number on any listing before assuming a comparable sale belongs to this association. Getting that wrong imports another association's dues, reserves and sales history into your analysis.
Amenities & Services
The Residences
Every home on the roll is a three bedroom, three bathroom residence, and the recorded areas fall into five clusters between 1,846 and 1,995 square feet. Eleven of the twenty-two sit at 1,887 square feet, which makes that the reference plan for the complex. The five homes at 1,905 square feet all address Barry Avenue, and the two largest, at 1,995 square feet, sit at either end of that same run. The two smallest, at 1,846 square feet, are the end homes on Missouri Avenue and Barrington Avenue respectively. Those two are useful reference points at either end of the range.
Marketing material for the complex describes a private two-car garage with direct entry into each home, and the arrangement is typical of the 1980s West Los Angeles townhome. It removes the lift, the corridor and the shared lobby from daily life, and it is the reason these homes appeal to buyers who would otherwise be looking at small houses. Establish on the recorded plan whether the garage is inside the unit boundary or is an exclusive-use common area, because that distinction decides who pays when the slab or the door mechanism fails.
The published description of the plans includes a private outdoor atrium in addition to balconies, which is a device this period used to bring daylight into the middle of a deep, narrow townhome sandwiched between party walls. Atria of that kind are excellent for light and less excellent for waterproofing, since they concentrate drainage in the centre of the home rather than at its edges. Ask specifically about the atrium drain, its maintenance history and whether the association or the owner is responsible for it. A dry atrium is an asset; a neglected one is a repair bill.
The plan described by a condominium directory places living and dining areas together with a balcony, a fireplace and a powder room on the entry level, with a large eat-in kitchen and an optional den or office alongside. That is a conventional and well-tested arrangement for a two-storey townhome and it keeps the bedrooms clear of visitors. Because this description comes from a listing directory rather than the association, treat the room-by-room detail as indicative and confirm against the specific home's floor plan. A powder room at entry level is a small feature that changes how the ground floor is used.
The same source describes cathedral ceilings in the bedrooms and a principal suite with its own balcony, a walk-in wardrobe and a dual-basin bathroom. Vaulted upper-floor ceilings were a signature of this vintage, achieved by exposing the roof framing rather than adding height, and they change the character of the upper floor considerably. They also mean the bedroom ceiling is the underside of the roof, so insulation performance and any past roof leak history matter more here than in a flat-plate building. Ask when the roof above the bedrooms was last replaced and whether any insulation was added at the same time.
The county records three bathrooms on all twenty-two parcels, which for a two-storey, three-bedroom townhome usually means a principal suite bathroom, a second full bathroom serving the remaining bedrooms and a powder room at entry level. That is a generous count for 1985 and it is one of the reasons the plan still reads as current. It also means three sets of supply and waste connections per home, and in a building of this age the condition of those runs is a legitimate line of enquiry before contract. Ask when each was last refitted, and by whom.
Due Diligence
A deeded condominium unit under Tract 36868, Lot 1, with a fractional interest in common area. Because these are townhomes rather than flats, the boundary between unit and common area is unusually consequential: roofs, party walls, garage structure and the atrium can fall either way. Read the condominium plan and the declaration together rather than relying on the plat alone. A townhome plat that looks simple often conceals an unusual allocation of the roof and the garage slab.
The association does not publish a schedule here, and the directory and aggregator numbers that circulate are unconfirmed and go out of date quietly, so this site does not carry one. The current figure for a specific home appears on the listing and in the statutory disclosure package. In a townhome association of this type dues typically cover roofs, exterior paint, landscaping, common lighting and master insurance, with each owner carrying interior cover and utilities. Ask for the current budget, the reserve study and the last two years of financial statements. Ask also what the association has spent in each of the last three years.
California Civil Code section 5550 requires a reserve study at least every three years with a visual inspection, reviewed annually by the board. In a 1985 townhome tract the dominant reserve items are roofing, exterior paint, fencing, driveway paving and drainage rather than lifts or pumps. Ask when the roofs were last replaced across all three street frontages, since a phased replacement can hide an uneven remaining life. A single frontage replaced ten years after another is not one roof.
Los Angeles Ordinance 183893 reaches wood-frame soft-storey buildings permitted before 1978, so a 1985 tract falls outside the mandatory programme. That is not the same as saying no vulnerability exists. Two-storey townhomes over garages have openings in the ground-floor walls by definition, and a voluntary engineering review of the garage-level framing is a reasonable request in a building of this age. Ask whether any engineering assessment has ever been commissioned, and if so what it recommended.
Buildings of the mid-1980s in Los Angeles commonly used copper supply and cast iron or ABS waste. Forty years in, the questions are pinhole leaks in copper, scale in cast iron and the condition of the lateral running out to the street. Ask whether the association has scoped the common sewer line and whether any home has had a repipe, since one repipe is often the first of many. Ask also who pays for a lateral replacement when it fails.
No rental cap is published for this association. Under California Civil Code section 4741 an association cannot set a rental cap below twenty-five per cent of units, and may prohibit tenancies of thirty days or less. Ask the board what it has adopted, how many homes are currently let, and whether any owner-occupancy requirement applies at resale. Ask too whether the association requires notice of a new tenancy and whether it screens tenants, since some townhome associations of this vintage adopted rules that no longer comply with current state law.
Each home has its own two-car garage, which is the complex's strongest practical feature. Guest parking is a different question. Establish whether the association controls any surface stalls, how they are allocated, and what the surrounding permit parking district requires, because three street frontages means three sets of kerbside rules to check. Ask as well whether the driveways serving the garages are common area, who maintains them, and whether any home's garage access crosses another owner's exclusive-use area, which is a common source of dispute in tracts laid out around three street frontages.
A separate 1985 townhome complex of the same name stands at 514 South Barrington Avenue in Brentwood. Building pages and sales histories for the two are frequently mixed. Before treating any sale as a comparable, match the assessment number to the range 4262027049 to 4262027070 and the legal description to Tract 36868, Lot 1. A brokerage page for the Brentwood complex gives twenty-four units and the same 1985 date, so unit counts alone will not distinguish the two. The tract number will.
Everything above is drawn from public records, city permit data and published sources. The association’s statutory disclosure package is the only authoritative answer on dues, rules, reserves, insurance and litigation — Ben will request it and read it with you before you remove contingencies.
Common Questions
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