Quote:
Originally Posted by suburbia
Not automatic, whereas you are the board of your own place.
Clearly you've not been reading all of the materials here or the details in the article. And if you think pulling a quote out of a larger post is going to pull me into some strawman argument, you're quite mistaken. As it turns out, because of condo board strong arming, preventative maintenance could not take place, and as such, a massive special assessment was required. People on this forum are missing the fact that the condo boards just as often push out preventative maintenance as many times as they do things appropriately, and on occasion do ridiculous things instead of more urgent items. At the end of the day, owning a condo (which technically is not owning too much, when you get into the details of what you actually own) leaves 90% of people layers away from decisions, and populous decisions of meeting attendees override what reasonable people may want.
Of course, all the talk has been about leaks and the like - things that come to a head. But that is not what special assessments are limited to. Special assessment imply absolutely required and you have no choice and must pay within weeks. But ff a building was totally yours, maybe you wouldn't feel the absolute requirement to replace a crappy LED light along the length of the building for a million dollars and pay for it with massive immediate debt, and instead defer for a year.
Anyway - Calgary condos in the Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/...ticle23334012/ |
You seem to be being deliberately obtuse here. In the example of the particular case you linked too, the condo board intentionally didn't fund required maintenance items that added up to a large special assessment bill. In essence, they artificially lowered the condo fees for an extended period of time which put more money in the condo holders pockets that should have been budgeted for repairs. A financially astute owner would recognize that, understand the engineering report, and understand the reserve fund study, and budget appropriately for maintenance items that were not funded by the board.
You seem to be trying to imply there is some crazy difference between condo maintenance and home maintenance, but there isn't much. Either way you have to stay on top of the relevant maintenance and understand deeply the financials. If you don't have the money to maintenance a property, whether it be a house or a condo, you probably shouldn't buy it, and whether you buy a house or a condo, you need to understand the maintenance costs associated through home inspections, engineering reports, reserve fund studies, property history, lifecycle of major components such as foundation, roofing, boilers, etc.
Homes can have 6 figure repair bills associated with them, those are typically the ones that grab headlines. A 5 figure special assessment might be news, but a 5 figure home maintenance item wouldn't even be worth printing about. You just have to pay it. No one cares about reading a news story like that. "Bob had to replace his roof, it was expensive". That doesn't sell newspapers. "Condo has 5 figure special assessment". That article appeals to people like you, so they print it. Similarly "Leaky house requires repair" doesn't grab headlines because every tom dick and harry's house leaks. You call a roofer and get if fixed, sometimes for thousands of dollars, but no where cares because it's so common.
Does a board require payment for maintenance items on a compressed time scale? Yes, sometimes, but well run boards will warn you years in advance of reserve fund shortfalls and potential special assessments. Special assessments are rarely surprises that come out of nowhere. They will be mentioned in annual board meetings years in advance in well run condos.
If that point is so "salient" and important to you and you can't imagine having to pay for maintenance items as they come up, maybe you shouldn't buy a condo. But I would argue as a responsible property owner, if you can afford to buy a property, affording the maintenance items is part of that, doesn't matter if it's a house or condo, and the numbers aren't much different between them.
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