Access to main water shut off valve

[mothe]

I live in Tennessee. My question is: Is it required by law for condo owners to have access to the main water shut-off valve for their unit?

In my building all the shut off valves to individual units are located in a locked storage room, and only the building manager and maintenance have a key. (It used to be that all residents had access to this room, but recently after some problems with theft they changed the policy.) Last month I had a pipe break and some serious damage was done to the flooring by the time maintenance got there to shut off the water. Luckily since I'm adjacent to the room I can (and now am) installing my own shut off valve. However, for residents on other floors this would be impossible. The homeowner's association has refused to do anything about it, saying that every resident is responsible for putting a shut off valve in their unit, but some people couldn't even if they wanted to. Is this legal?

 

[justalayman]

I don't know if you have to legally have access to the water main or not. Your local building inspector or plumbing inspector should be able to tell you.

why can't the others put a main valve in their unit?

 

[mothe]

Thanks for the reply. I contacted a plumber after it happened and he's the one who told me it would be impossible for residents on other floors to have one installed. He didn't explain the reason, but my guess is that many of the other units have interconnected systems, so to turn off the water to one would mean cutting it off to several (and sometimes they do have to shut off the whole building's supply when doing work on other units so this would make sense.) The plumber wasn't a certified inspector as far as I know, but his opinion was I would have a very good case considering the damage done to the floor to at least persuade them that every resident should get a key, maybe even for a small fee each year.
Thanks again for the suggestions.