Self-managed condo
corporations
There are hundreds of condo corporations that are self-managed. The
directors
manage the corporation. At first it may seem a bit odd, something
unthinkable like "home
skooling", raising urban chickens or drinking unpasteurized milk but it
really can be a viable means of saving the owners a lot of money.
The savings can be substantial and Marilyn G. Lincoln wrote a manual,
The Condominium
Self-Management Guide, that
describes how to self-manage your condo corporation.
In a bid to save money, some condo corporations hire a property manager
as a direct employee. The accounting work is contracted out to a
bookkeeper or to an accounting office.
The
challenges
There are several challenges in becoming self-managed. There has to be
office hours for the owners to inform the directors of their
suggestions, concerns and complaints.
The directors need to have sufficient knowledge and skill to negotiate
contracts with the different trades and services that a condo
corporation requires. The corporation will
also need an experienced bookkeeper to manage the income, pay the
expenses and the payroll.
The directors will need to know the Act and have the ability to chair
owner meetings, maintain meeting minutes and to write and distribute
notices to the owners. Status Certificates need to be produced and
notices and letters typed.
Townhouses
There are many townhouse condominiums in Ontario that have discarded
their property management companies and are self-managed. Most are managed by
the board of directors while others have hired a person to be both the
manager and the superintendent.
This works best with townhouses as the budgets are lower, there
are no employees, no expensive common elements such as elevators,
boilers, chillers and lobbies to worry about.
Condo towers
A few condominium towers have hired an employee to manage the
corporation and a management company to do the accounting. They
subcontract the rest of the work.
At times, the president of the board is hired to be the full-time
property manager. The few times I have heard of this, it did not work
out very well; in fact it was often ghastly.
Note:
Starting in 2018, all persons who are paid to do condo management duties in Ontario need to be licenced.
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