Court-appointed
administrator
“…it was
determined that a dictator should be appointed to retrieve
heir shattered fortunes, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was appointed by
universal consent.”
—Levy
When a condo corporation becomes ungovernable or is in terrible
financial difficulties, it may be time to apply for a court-appointed
administrator to assume the board’s powers and clean up the mess.
Some condos suffered from corruption where uncollected fees, fraud and
theft cost the
condo tens or even hundreds of thousands. Perhaps the building suffered
from dishonest
contractors who did sloppy work.
The original construction may have been faulty. The warranty period
came
to an end, the developer moved on and the owners were stuck with
building deficiencies that can take millions to repair.
Then again, the owners may have elected boards who deliberately kept
monthly fees too low for years so there
was no money to pay for necessary maintenance and repairs and the
reserve fund is empty.
At
some point, the neglect can no longer be ignored. The city may have
issued expensive work orders and the city is threatening to do the
repairs and add the costs to the owners' property taxes. In addition,
the utility
bills may be
so far in arrears the hydro may be disconnected.
At this point why the condo got into such a mess is not as important as
how is it going to pull itself out.
Most of the time, a newly elected board can't fix serious the financial
problems that have been ongoing for years because if they try to
raise the fees or declare a special assessment, the owners
will
requisition a special meeting to remove them.
That is when someone has to ask the courts to intervene.
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