What do the owners want?

Condo corporations consist of owners who have three different views on how the property should be maintained and differ on how they think the by-laws and rules should be enforced.

Common expenses

Common expenses are not really fees or taxes but the monthly costs of operating and maintaining the condominium corporation.

As far as the monthly expenses go, condo owners can be divided into three separate groups, one which will control the board of directors.

1. Maintain the building & services
Maintaining the building and grounds to their original standards over the long term is important to this group. So are the services that the corporation provides. That is why they bought their units.

They plan to live here indefinitely and the board should set the monthly common expenses accordingly.

2. Plan to sell
This group plans to sell in the next two to five years. They are mainly interested in "curb appeal" so they will get the highest possible selling price. Low monthly fees means it will be easier for them to sell.

They demand that the board keeps the common expenses as low as possible and only spend money fixing up:
• the lobby
• the hallways
• front landscaping and driveway.

Some owners who rent out their units also fall into this category. They want the building to look good enough to attract renters.

3. Keep the monthly costs low
This group wants the monthly expense payments to be set as low as possible and kept there. As long as the lights are on, they have hot water and the elevators work, they're content.

Not much else is important to them. Don't talk to them about the long-term because they don't care about the long term. Right now, all they care about is getting by until we get they get their next pay cheque.

(Many owners who rent their units are in this category. Every dollar spent on monthly common expenses is a dollar out of their pockets.)

They will vote for anyone who promises to freeze the expenses or keep them low and they will throw out any board that raises the fees.

If the board brings in an administrator, they will suffer. However, as soon as the administrator leaves, they will revert back to low monthly payments.

Why is this important?
The board of directors needs to set the monthly common expenses at a level that the majority of owners will accept. If the fees are higher than that, the board is in constant danger of being voted out of office.

Rules and regulations
Every condo has a declaration, by-laws, policies, rules and regulations. Where they differ is whether or not they enforce them and to what degree they enforce them. This matters.

A condo where the rules and regulations are enforced—and where the owners are charged back for all damages they cause to the common elements—tend to be cleaner, have less vandalism, graffiti, fewer noise and behaviour complaints and have higher property values.

Those condos that don't are not as pleasant to live in. At the lowest end of the scale, condo living can be extremely depressing as the standards for cleanliness and the behaviour of the residents rival that found in public housing complexes.

The board
High standards must be maintained in a new condo from day one for once they slip, they are extremely difficult to restore.

Yet the board cannot ignore the owners' wishes. If the majority of owners—of the ones that bother to vote—demand low monthly costs, then low expenses is what they will get as the owners will steamroll over a board that ignores them.

That is why the board needs to inform the owners why they are paying common expenses and what their money is buying them.

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