Top 10 condo myths debunked
Before buying a condominium, know your rights as a new homeowner
You may be considering purchasing your own space, but the thought of paying for a single-family home is way out of your price range. A condo, however, is within your budget. Before you pay the earnest money (down payment put into a mortgage escrow account to notify the home seller that you’re serious about a purchase) for a condo unit, you should know about some common myths related to condominium owners associations (COAs) versus homeowners associations (HOAs), and what you’ll be financially responsible for with condo living. Here are 10 debunked myths about living in a condo.
Myth 1: COAs are not responsible for common areas.
Each owner of a COA pays monthly assessments, which includes maintenance for common areas. These fees could be for everyday cleaning such as sweeping and mopping the lobby floors, disinfecting the doorknobs, shoveling snow along walkways, and managing laundry room repairs and coin refund requests. But there can also be included fees for occasional tasks such as annual water boiler inspections or extermination treatments in the hallways and basement.
Myth 2: Condos include amenities such as pools, fitness centers and security systems.
While there are high-rise condos that do include amenities such as swimming pools, fitness centers and front-desk security, some condos have a similar appearance to apartments without these extra amenities. From first glance, you may be unaware that these multi-unit buildings have owners all under a limited liability company (LLC) who own a percentage of each unit. This is fairly common when tenants become owners, and a newly elected condo board (sometimes referred to as trustees) manages finances, enforces rules, maintains common areas, and decides on repairs and upgrades of the building.
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Myth 3: One person is in charge of the condo board.
The bylaws registered with the city will list the number of board members in a COA. Usually, there must be a minimum of three (president, treasurer, secretary), two of which are listed for public record on the Secretary of State site. Ironically, some banks (ex. JP Morgan Chase) will only allow the president and secretary to handle financial changes with a COA’s business account instead of the treasurer. This is often because only the president and secretary are listed on Secretary of State sites. However, COAs may also have vice presidents or Members at Large, depending on how their bylaws are written. Generally, all board members are equal and have one vote. Ideally, to avoid tie votes, no board should have an even number.
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Myth 4: A homeowner who buys more than one unit of a condominium still has only one vote.
This is dependent upon the way the bylaws are written. While two owners (ex. husband and wife) of the same unit cannot be on a board, and will still be considered one vote at association meetings, if that same couple (or single person) buys another unit, the voting process may change. Unit-based voting means one person per unit. If a unit owner owns two units, she’s entitled to two votes.
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However, other condo associations go by ownership percentage. For example, a unit owner with a three-bedroom home may have a larger percentage vote than a unit owner of a one-bedroom home. Let’s say a one-bedroom owner has a 3% vote, and she buys a second one-bedroom condo unit. She now has 6% of the vote. However, if another unit owner already had a three-bedroom unit and a 9% vote, his vote is still higher than hers — even while technically owning less property. For this reason, this is why some COAs prefer the one-person, one-vote rule to avoid arguments over power.
Myth 5: A homeowners association is the same as a condominium owners association.
While the terms are used interchangeably, a homeowners association is actually made up of a neighborhood of single-family homes with their own individual yards. A condominium owners association is one multi-unit building where all owners share the same common areas. Some condos may be separate in certain areas. For example, a 20-unit building can have four entrance doors with different locks, meaning only the people who live in that section of the building can enter and exit and mail will only be delivered to their doorways. Regardless of the architecture, a COA has one mailing address (and separate units) while an HOA will have different mailing addresses (and no unit numbers).
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Myth 6: Condo owners have less control over decisions affecting the building or community.
Although competition may be stiff, depending on how much conflict or enthusiasm there is in the building, one of the simplest ways to maintain control over how funds are spent is to join the condo board. COAs do not have to have property managers (legally called Community Association Managers in cities such as Chicago). They can be self-managed. However, self-managed condominiums are a significant amount of voluntary work that can feel like a second job. But by being a member of the condo board, you can weigh in on maintenance, repairs, upgrades, budgets and rules in the event you don’t agree with how the current condo board is handling these decisions.
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Myth 7: You’ll be responsible for all repairs.
This depends on the repair and how it connects to common areas. Usually, if it’s “in front of the wall,” it’s the condo owner’s responsibility. If it’s “behind the wall,” then it is the association’s expense. Plumbing is a tricky expense though. For example, the drain waste pipe (the pipe that carries wastewater from the bathtub to the home’s plumbing system) is connected to the bathtub drain assembly. Although it’s behind the wall, the visible drain, overflow drain and trap are still within your unit. If that is somehow damaged or water pours into the unit below, then the owner may be responsible for another owner’s damages because this isn’t a building-wide repair; it’s a unit-to-unit repair. Having individual homeowners insurance will significantly avoid surprise expenses if something unpredictable happens. (Mortgage companies usually make this a requirement and set these funds aside in the escrow account to be paid on an annual basis.)
Myth 8: Condos have higher COA assessments for maintenance and fees than HOAs.
Because HOAs are single-family homes, some homeowners may choose to handle their own maintenance (ex. shoveling driveways, mowing lawns) instead of agreeing to pay contractors to handle the entire block. However, what is inside the walls is usually an independent decision. COA budget decisions, on the other hand, may be more intrusive within the home. (This is 100% dependent on how the COA board sets up the annual budget.) For example, some COAs may choose to have bulk cable packages, which would increase monthly assessments for all owners. But other unit owners may prefer to stream cable on a ROKU or Apple device instead of using traditional cable services. If enough condo owners prefer streaming over cable wire service, this is an example of an expense that can be dismissed. The only time dismissing rules or expenses can become problematic is if they were included in the bylaws before an owner purchased the unit. While Rules and Regulations (R&R) can be changed each board election season, bylaws registered with the city always outrank them. So, dismissing an expense in the R&R doesn’t hold the same weight if it’s still in the bylaws.
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Myth 9: Living in a multi-unit condo is like living in an apartment.
This is highly dependent on the ratio of tenants to owners. If there are no rental restrictions, which can often make liability and property insurance rates higher, then there may be some units that will always have a steady stream of people. Still, other units may have owners who have lived in the building for decades. As long as the tenants and owners can peacefully co-exist, visitors and tenants may have no idea of whether the building is a condominium or an apartment. The only way to usually tell is obvious signs such as meeting minutes in lobbies or other notes left around the building to confirm there is a condo board. However, if all of the owners are investors who live somewhere else, the building is legally considered a condominium but may visually feel like an apartment full of tenants who come and go.
Myth 10: Condo owners are responsible for all tenants.
When a tenant moves into a unit owner’s residence, that individual condo unit owner is the tenant’s landlord. Unless the bylaws or R&R state otherwise, all complaints, repairs, upgrades and conflict should be handled solely by that condo landlord. Some condo boards will specifically state in their R&R to not be contacted about tenants’ complaints about other unit owners, including their own landlord. Property managers may also take this stance. However, there are some complaints that will affect the building as a whole. For example, if a tenant has a pest problem, that’s not an individual complaint. Pests may become an issue for all residents.
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If that tenant reports the pest problem to the city’s Building Violations, all owners may have to pay for mandatory extermination of their individual units or tuckpointing to get rid of the issue. This is one of many reasons why R&Rs are specific about how condo landlords should vet and interact with their tenant to avoid other unit owners being blamed for landlord-tenant conflict. Condo rental restrictions also decrease the odds of condo slum landlords who buy units, rent them and disappear.
So should you buy a condo? That’s an individual decision that can only be answered when considering your own finances and preferred living space. For potential unit owners who aren’t quite sure they’d be comfortable living in the building, one suggestion would be to ask a condo landlord (or a condo owner listing a sale) to rent the space for a specified time to see what it’d be like living there. (Some condo unit owners won’t want to do this for fear of squatters or missing out on a potential sale.) If all goes well, then the earnest funds are deposited to move forward with the home-buying transaction.
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