CONDOMINIUMS
&
TOWNHOUSES
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
BEFORE AND AFTER
BUYING
Irfan Alli R.C.M.
Practical Advice from a Registered Condominium Manager
Copyright © 2013 by Irfan Alli
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-1564-2
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
DISCLAIMER: The content of this eBook is for general information only. It is not intended to provide legal, technical or financial advice. When you are ready to buy a Condominium or Townhouse please engage a licensed professional in the area of expertise that you need help with.
Irfan Alli can be reached at:
CONDOMINIUM AND TOWNHOUSES – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE AND AFTER BUYING: Condominiums are going up in cities all over the world at a rapid pace. For many people it will be their first home. Many buy without knowing what they are getting themselves into. In this book you will:
1.Explore whether condominium living is for you.
2.Come to understand the different types of condominiums.
3.Be introduced to various legal condominium documents.
4.Understand what you own if you buy a condominium.
5.Learn how a condominium is run, and the role of the Board.
6.Understand how and where maintenance fees are spent.
7.Explore your rights and responsibilities as an owner.
8.Narrow down which condominium is right for you.
9.Learn to protect your investment if buying a new condominium.
10.Know what to look for in a real estate agent.
11.Find out about other professionals who can help you.
12.Learn what a Reserve Fund Study is.
13.And much more.
Find out what you need to know before and after buying a Condominium or Townhouse by reading this book.
IRFAN ALLI: Irfan Alli is a Registered Condominium Manager (R.C.M.). He has managed both new and older Condominium Corporations. This enables him to help you understand if buying a new or older condominium is for you.
He has managed regular townhouses, stacked townhouses, high-rise Condominiums, Common Elements Condominium Corporations, and gated Condominium communities. As a result he can help you decide which design is best for you.
He works 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, if a Condominium is well run and what to physically look for in a Condominium Corporation before you buy.
Irfan is the author of several eBooks – among them: 201 Motivational Quotes from Around the World, 101 Selected Sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), 101 Selected Sayings of Mahatma Gandhi and Spouse Trap – Over 200 Questions to Ask Before Saying ‘I Do’.
His volunteer efforts, professional work and recreational activities have taken him all across Canada, to the U.S., Brazil, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Guyana, Pakistan, India, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and China. What he has learned from his travels is reflected in his writing. Irfan lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife, four children, and a growing number of grand children.
INTRODUCTION
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