Special assessment -expense or depreciate?

[Deb L.]

I have owned a 30-year old condo for about five years that I have rented out the entire time I have owned it.  The roof is original, has been patched but still not fixed.  The condo is doing a special assessment of about $4000 per unit that has to be paid in full.  I'm not sure if this will be paid in 2018 or 2019.

Can this be expensed in the year that it was paid (the entire $4000) or does it have to be depreciated over 27.5 years (or some other timeframe) ?

Thanks!