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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