During the tough economic environment of the past few years, many condo owners have faced job losses, pay decreases or just financial uncertainty. Unfortunately, this sometimes leads to owners not paying their common charges. …
Category: Finance
Looking at the balance in an association’s reserve account, a homeowner could easily feel complacent. After all, a quarter-million dollars is a lot of money. Maybe—or maybe not. If the condominium comprises 200 units, is nearin…
Just as families are encouraged to set aside a portion of the household budget into a savings account, so are community associations advised to maintain a reserve fund for capital improvements—repairs and replacements of major common-ow…
The Roman god Janus had two faces that allowed him to look backward into the past and forward into the future. When thinking about end-of-the-year association finances, boards would do well to take a lesson from Janus and look back at …
Q: If there is damage to my roof and it leaks into my condominium unit and I reported it to the board three times with no repairs made, can I repair it myself and deduct the cost from my common charges? Please advise ASAP. Your atte…
Proxy Dilemma Q Two weeks prior to our annual condo election, the unit owners receive their proxies in the mail. However, a board member who was up for re-election obtained a proxy from the manager two weeks earlier than all the…
Of all the members of a condominium’s board, the treasurer is in a unique position to uphold the fiduciary responsibility of the association, similar to that of a chief financial officer in the corporate world. Basically, the t…
In most states, community associations have no special status when a unit owner stops paying maintenance fees. But one by one, states have been adopting a priority lien, or “super lien” provision into law, to give condominium association…
All roads lead to Sturbridge, Massachusetts—or so it seems. A thriving community with colonial roots, Sturbridge stands at the crossroads of New England. U.S. Route 20 runs through the center of town, and the junction of Inters…
Most of the time, a condo association or co-op building and its management company enjoy a mutually beneficial partnership—the management company and the individual agents try their best to serve their clients, and their client communiti…