Читать книгу Condominiums and Townhouses - What You Need to Know Before and After Buying - Irfan Alli - Страница 3

A few years ago a woman sat in my office in tears. The Condominium Corporation had a lien on her property and the bank was going to repossess. After the meeting what was most upsetting was no one had sat down with her before she bought the Condominium unit to explain what she was getting herself into and what her rights and responsibilities were.

Almost every day I speak to unit owners who don’t understand how Condominiums and Townhouses work. Yet they own one, and owe banks and mortgage companies hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many, on being educated on the process, come to regret buying a Condominium or buying into a specific Condominium Corporation/Complex.

Condominiums can be great to live in, as long as you know what you are getting into, and make the right decisions. I have lived in one for over twenty-five years, currently do, and thoroughly enjoy living there.

For some time now I have been thinking of how I can help people do their homework before buying a Condominium or Townhouse and decided to write this book. Take your time to understand the concepts and details of this book.

I have kept each topic short and made them as simple as I can without compromising details. You need to understand how Condominiums work, what the owner’s responsibilities are and what powers the Condominium Corporations have if you don’t follow the rules, and pay your maintenance fees on time.

This book was created to enable you to become an informed Condominium buyer and to prepare you to ask the right questions as you explore which Condominium is right for you. To help you along, questions are raised in the book and answered. A short summary appears at the end of each topic.

I have managed regular townhouses, stacked townhouses, high-rise Condominiums, Common Elements Condominium Corporations, and gated Condominium communities. As a result I can help you understand which design is best for you.

I also work with Condominium Boards to develop and plan their yearly budgets and can help you understand how the maintenance fee a unit owner pays is spent. As a homeowner, there may be times when you cannot pay your maintenance fee on time. This book will help you understand timelines and what you do if you ever receive a Notice of Lien (Form 14).

I contract out over a million dollars each year in the maintenance and repairs of Condominiums and know a well maintained Condominium when I see one. I can therefore help you understand what to physically look for in a Condominium before you buy.

I work with engineers to develop the Reserve Fund Studies for Condominium Corporations. For someone who has never heard of the reserve fund and does not understand its purpose, this book with help make things clear.

Then there are the Declaration, By-laws, and Rules of the Condominium Corporation to be understood. Many buyers only find out about them or read them after they have moved in, only to find that within them there are rules they can’t honor. This book will tell you where to get these documents before you sign on the dotted line.

From time to time I am on call afterhours as a Property Manager and oversee a large number of Condominium properties at night and on weekends. This book tells you where to find out what constitutes an after hour emergency and how to get help if needed.

While residential Condominiums are the focus of this book, do keep in mind the physical and legal nature of Condominiums is changing, and will continue to change. Condominiums can be townhouses, a high-rise, stacked townhouses, residential units only, commercial units on the bottom and residential units above, commercial units only, and even recreational cottages.

In this book even though I use Ontario’s Condominium Act as the reference, the general information included in this book applies to Condominium buyers all over the country, continent and world. I have repeated some concepts in the book, in different ways. This is deliberate, as many condo buyers are immigrants and English is not their first language. After reading this book you will be ready to ask the right questions and make proper decisions.

Irfan Alli R.C.M.

(Registered Condominium Manager)