Quote:
Originally Posted by Red
I stand corrected.
Never lived in one so I am only repeating what I hear, but out of curiosity I want to ask this. How can one resident influence the entire complex (100-200 residents) to fix the fence, windows or something non emergency in two - three years from now (rather then now) and the work to be done by uncle Tom that I trust and can get me a good deal? Problem is, uncle Tom is not a registered/bonded contractor or such, just a handy guy that can do the job.
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As was mentioned already, joining the board is the best way to influence the decisions made for/by the complex as a whole.
Aside from that, just going to the meetings is a way to at least keep up to date with how things are being run, but most people don't bother.
I lived in a complex with ~150 doors, and in the 5 years I was on the condo board, we never had more than a dozen residents come to the annual general meeting, there were never more than 4 people on the board (by-laws stated the board could be between 3-5 members),and never once had a non-board member atteend a board meeting.
So it's pretty easy to have an influence on those types of things, but most people don't want to put in the work.
As for the second part, yeah someone could make all of those bad decisions, but it's a board, not a king, for a reason. For that to happen, you've got to have a rediculously bad board (something the residents only have themselves to blame for), and they're likely breaking several condo by-laws, and actual provincial laws in the process.
So yeah, it could happen, but it would be a situation the condo residents put themselves in by their own lack of initiative, and it's something that has multiple methods to remedy.