owning a condo, maintenance expense

[daytripper65]

Hi,

We bought a condo a year ago. The estate is about 8 years old now, and is starting to need repairs, including re-painting. It looks bad- moldy, cracking, etc. The management fund and sinking fund are not near enough to cover the expenses needed, so the management has been proposing to raise the levy (about $1,000/yr) to cover the needed repairs and maintenance.

I've never owned a condo before, but it does not sound unreasonable to me, however the other residents (95% singaporean) seem to have successfully been lodging vote-down campaigns against any levy at all, insisting that management should be paying for these things.

Does anybody know what the general rule is here? Does management generally cover the costs for the upkeep of condos estates?

Thanks,

DT

[QRM]

Hi,

We bought a condo a year ago. The estate is about 8 years old now, and is starting to need repairs, including re-painting. It looks bad- moldy, cracking, etc. The management fund and sinking fund are not near enough to cover the expenses needed, so the management has been proposing to raise the levy (about $1,000/yr) to cover the needed repairs and maintenance.

I've never owned a condo before, but it does not sound unreasonable to me, however the other residents (95% singaporean) seem to have successfully been lodging vote-down campaigns against any levy at all, insisting that management should be paying for these things.

Does anybody know what the general rule is here? Does management generally cover the costs for the upkeep of condos estates?

Thanks,

DT

And where exactly does the management get the money from to maintain the place?... YOU

You have to make sure that the management is a reputable group. No matter how much money you throw at them if they piss the cash away then you as residents have to stand up for a change. but if everything seems in order then read the small print in the purchase contract as I believe they can increase the cost to cover justifiable maintenance, other wise the building fabric suffers and so do you in re-sale etc.

[daytripper65]

Things are clearer now. Yes, the money comes from our condo fees, it's the amount above and beyond that I questioned, and if it is typical for levies to be imposed if the funds are too low. It was proposed, voted on, and voted down. Again.

Apparently this has been going on for a couple of years now. My husband was led to believe when he purchased the place that it was in the process of getting painted, and the committee was actually discussing colors the day he looked at it. We didn't realize it was voted down just days after we put our offer in. Still, we are willing to pay the levy, but others aren't, so we have no choice now but to live in this decaying moldy building.

It seems the majority of residents are outright opposed to the management, and how much the budget has increased over 5 years, which is why they voted down virtually every improvement proposed This is very disappointing. The increases do not seem unusually high or unreasonable, and everything has been accounted for and itemized.
In fact, it is the residents that seem unreasonable. One guy drummed up 35 proxy votes from elderly and uninformed owners to swing the decision.

Well, the moral of this story is to do more research before buying property. I looked for over a year before buying property in the past, and between open houses and private showings, I look at hundreds of properites before putting offers in. We were not looking when my husband stumbled across this place with a friend who was looking, and ended up putting an offer in himself before I arrived. Now, I really do appreciate his efforts, so time to shift my energy to the better points of the place...