One of the biggest issues with condo boards, is the slowness to get things done and the politics. I lived in a condo for 3 years, when I first moved to Calgary, and the people on the board were the biggest numbskulls I've ever had the displeasure of working with. You couldn't possibly believe some of the items people would bring up at a meeting. As a result meetings always ran late, and we had to have extra meetings to make up for agenda items that we didn't get to.
There was one lady who burned up a couple of meetings trying to iron out a way to properly standardize Christmas lights, and penalize people who didn't put them up in the way she thought they should be put up. I had another woman complain that my girlfriend's birdhouse wasn't up to condo regulation. That it should she be taupe instead of red, because it didn't match the stucco.
Maybe some people get lucky and get a good condo board, but I've never heard anyone say they have.
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Originally Posted by suburbia
The above is pretty standard. People don't talk about it because it isn't something they want to share, but it happens a lot. Not unlike miscarriages.
I recall in my folks' old place the tar was going to be redone. I asked why, and the board said because the schedule says that it needs to be done. So I said it is fine that the schedule estimated life of the tar to be X number of years, but it looks excellent. If there are any specific issues, have it patched. They scoffed at this and said that engineers have made the schedule and we should trust experts. So it was a ridiculous situation. Good parking surface was dug up and replaced so it looked exactly like it used to, and money was spent. In a home, firstly I'd not have to deal with tar because I wouldn't have tar on my property, but I'd only do things when they needed to be done.
The trees dying because people were negligent is pretty standard. And the bureaucracy is so slow that the decision of the bureaucracy doesn't even matter at the end of the day.
Oh - and if you are in a tall building, you have to watch out for singletons throwing chairs off the balconies too.
Good points earlier about houses not needing elevators (and that exercise does the body good). Elevators are a massive cost, the monthly charges plus when things go south. Horrible horrible. And yeah, you have to pay for cleaning, heating and lighting all those hallways that aren't actually yours. Overhead in management and services, and overhead in building spaces.
There is no reasonable mechanism that is quick so as to respond to an issue, and that is not adversarial. Plus, people live in condos so they don't have to worry about things. Now they have to worry and "stay on top of things" so that they people managing the extra money you are paying are doing things well so that you don't have stress. Whaaat? |
Wow, that is whacked!
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