Many prospective first-time or single home buyers are in the market to buy a condo or townhouse. Condos can be an ideal purchase as they can offer a low buying price and do not require outside maintenance. A condo association will typically manage outdoor building maintenance, community by-laws and, landscaping.
Monthly Condo Association Fees are paid to the condo association to cover these services.
Condo Association Fees cover:
Maintenance and Repairs
Since condos are usually housed in single apartment buildings, they come with shared amenities like hallways, service elevators, swimming pools, green spaces, court yards, and laundry areas. To keep them in excellent condition, each of these common areas need proper maintenance. Additionally, in case of any problems like broken pipes and flooded hallways, quick and efficient repairs are made to effectively restore the services.
All condo homeowners are expected to participate in the maintenance and repair processes through their respective condo associations. The fees contributed are partly used to hire skilled professionals who are subsequently tasked with maintenance and repair duties.
Utilities and Insurance
Compared to other home types, one of the greatest benefits of buying a condo is the fact that homeowners may not be directly responsible for utilities like trash, sewer, water, and recycling. They can be handled by the condo association, paid by condo association fees.
In addition to utilities, the fees also cover liability insurance on shared amenities. Since shared walls, swimming pools, elevators, and escalators cannot be insured by individual condo owners, the collective condo association dues pay for insurance premiums to ensure that they are protected from liabilities.
Events and Meetings
Just like any other associations, condo associations often hold occasional events and meetings to discuss critical agendas on managing their respective apartment buildings and related resources. Part of the fees paid by home owners make these meetings possible.
In some communities, condo associations hold events like barbecues and commemorations inclusive of the community members. Such events require extensive budgets which are also catered for by the condo association fees.
Administrative Work
To live comfortably in a condo, the whole apartment building needs to be diligently administered. Someone has to take care of the taxes, oversee finances and enforce community rules to ensure that all the individual rights are protected. If a neighbor is too noisy for instance, a homeowner should be able to make a complaint and subsequently follow up on it, thanks to a proper administrative framework.
Of course the framework needs money to operate – to pay the individual administrators, board members, and pay all the taxes and property dues. Without the condo association fees, this would be impossible and homeowners could be forced to live in deplorable conditions. Therefore, although they may sometimes seem like a burden to homeowners, condo association fees are indeed essential to the efficient running of the individual apartment buildings.
