Michael Jacobs
08-11-2003, 11:25 AM
aha09@yahoo.com (aha09) wrote in message
news:<38r9jv45e6sk3n4qne83ahmppr11efjstv@4ax.com>... Can my condo association charge me, a condo owner, for the cost of renovating or repairing the balconies of the entire building? Everyone in the condomium is getting billed. One bedroom are charged $1500 and Two bedrooms are charged $3000. I thought i was responsible for only the inside of the condo. I really need help with this soon. Thanks to anyone that can help.
Read your condo documents. The word "Condominium" means that you, and
all the other unit owners, are also in fact part-share-owners of the
whole building, as a community rather than individually. As such,
each of you have the duty to maintain the inside of your own unit and
to pitch in equitably to any assessments for the maintenance of the
entire dwelling.
Don't you pay a monthly or yearly "condo fee" in addition to your
mortgage PITI? That is for your "regular" share of maintenance of
the common area (hiring gardeners, painters etc.) and the documents
which created the con-dominium (co-ownership) almost certainly also
provide that the condo association's elected board (which represents
all of you, as co-owners) can also make special additional
assessments, as necessary, for unusual maintenance expenses. That's
the deal you bought into.
The condo assn. isn't some independent landlord; it's YOU (and your
fellow unit owners). Right now IMO you have 2 choices: (1) Pay the
assessment. Or, (2) go to a condo assn meeting and present cogent
arguments why it should be postponed or reduced. But if they still
say you have to pay it, you better do so, or the documents also
probably provide that the assn. can put a lien on your unit, which
would have to be paid (with interest, costs, and fees added on) before
you could ever sell it.
--
This posting is for discussion purposes, not professional advice.
Anything you post on this Newsgroup is public information.
I am not your lawyer, and you are not my client in any specific legal
matter.
For confidential professional advice, consult a lawyer in a private
communication.
Mike Jacobs
LAW OFFICE OF W. MICHAEL JACOBS
10440 Little Patuxent Pkwy #300
Columbia, MD 21044
(tel) 410-740-5685 (fax) 410-740-4300
news:<38r9jv45e6sk3n4qne83ahmppr11efjstv@4ax.com>... Can my condo association charge me, a condo owner, for the cost of renovating or repairing the balconies of the entire building? Everyone in the condomium is getting billed. One bedroom are charged $1500 and Two bedrooms are charged $3000. I thought i was responsible for only the inside of the condo. I really need help with this soon. Thanks to anyone that can help.
Read your condo documents. The word "Condominium" means that you, and
all the other unit owners, are also in fact part-share-owners of the
whole building, as a community rather than individually. As such,
each of you have the duty to maintain the inside of your own unit and
to pitch in equitably to any assessments for the maintenance of the
entire dwelling.
Don't you pay a monthly or yearly "condo fee" in addition to your
mortgage PITI? That is for your "regular" share of maintenance of
the common area (hiring gardeners, painters etc.) and the documents
which created the con-dominium (co-ownership) almost certainly also
provide that the condo association's elected board (which represents
all of you, as co-owners) can also make special additional
assessments, as necessary, for unusual maintenance expenses. That's
the deal you bought into.
The condo assn. isn't some independent landlord; it's YOU (and your
fellow unit owners). Right now IMO you have 2 choices: (1) Pay the
assessment. Or, (2) go to a condo assn meeting and present cogent
arguments why it should be postponed or reduced. But if they still
say you have to pay it, you better do so, or the documents also
probably provide that the assn. can put a lien on your unit, which
would have to be paid (with interest, costs, and fees added on) before
you could ever sell it.
--
This posting is for discussion purposes, not professional advice.
Anything you post on this Newsgroup is public information.
I am not your lawyer, and you are not my client in any specific legal
matter.
For confidential professional advice, consult a lawyer in a private
communication.
Mike Jacobs
LAW OFFICE OF W. MICHAEL JACOBS
10440 Little Patuxent Pkwy #300
Columbia, MD 21044
(tel) 410-740-5685 (fax) 410-740-4300
