Quote:
Originally Posted by saillias
Since I moved in to this place in 2012 the condo board has been dinging the whole block with yearly special assessment fees.
They rise in price every year. First one was 300, 2014 was $500, this year's is nearly $800
the justification on the letter was "administrative overhead and outstanding legal fees" with no further details
I sent them an e-mail on Sunday asking for further details but haven't heard back.
What can I do? Am I hooped to just endlessly pay special assessment fees?
|
Count yourself lucky. I don't want to say that those amounts are insignificant, but those amounts are very small in comparison to complexes which have special assessments needed to fund major construction or renovation projects. Myself, I've had to pay $8K over the last 4 years in my complex for a variety of issues.
In fact, almost everyone I know who has owned a condo has been "special assessed" at some point. It's very common.
To answer your question though, the condo board should be able to provide you more detail rather than the fairly vague "administrative overhead and outstanding legal fees".
Read through the AGM minutes. They will provide information on any past issues, or potential future issues.
Same with the Reserve Fund study. Your condo board should have one. It will highlight any anticipated major future expenditures and the board and condo management company will use that to forecast how much is needed in the reserve fund to pay for those.
Similar to what others have stated owning a condo is owning a unit in a larger community so It's good to educate yourself and you gotta take the ups with the downs unfortunately.