Tales of horror from Condoland
Anne-Marie Ambert hosts Canadian Condo Information Centre, a huge
database
listing owners problems with condominium living.
After being featured in a Metro News feature in September 2013, in just
three days, Anne-Marie heard from three condo owners who had to sell
their condos very quickly because of maltreatment by the board, the
manager and condo employees.
One of these owners sold and moved into in a motel as his health was
deteriorating.
The maltreatment includes a wide array of criminal acts, including:
• poisoning a
dog
• stealing
items
• threats and
intimidation
• verbal
abuse
• fixing
proxies, and so on.
Sheer horror stories. Terrorism.
Special
assessments
Also within these days, she received three additional horror stories of
huge special assessments, one of which is certainly the result of bid
rigging by contractors with cost overruns by the hundreds of thousands
of dollars.
Another
horror story
I just heard that the owners in a fairly new townhouse complex, in
Toronto's
Rockcliffe Smythe area, were recently hit with a $70,000 special
assessment.
That is for each unit!
I have been told that the builder went bankrupt and that the owners are
facing serious problems due to poor workmanship and shoddy materials.
I checked the Internet to see what I could find.
The
city listed two Licensing and Standards Investigations. The condo
corporation has been issued work orders.
This outstanding work order states that water is not draining away from
the decks to the eavestrough. That can cause water to enter the
building envelop and cause water damage below.
A current real estate listing on MLS states that the complex has "New
Roof On Complex+Warranties!" Why would a new townhouse complex
need a replacement roof unless there has been numerous water leaks?
Another
concern
There has been a number of these units put up for sale recently and
three are presently listed on MLS. Will potential buyers receive full
disclosure?
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