The CBC has an interesting article on-line: Etobicoke condo owners demand ‘justice’ after fee increase

I want to discuss this issue as it raises some questions.

Firstly, the article does not state why an Administrator was called in in the first place.  Usually this only happens when the condominium is poorly run by the elected Board of Directors.  So there are more than likely a lot of issues.

Secondly, what does the Reserve Fund Study say about this work?  Has one been completed in the last three years?  If not, why not?

How many elevators are there?  The article claims that the elevators need to be repaired.  But if there is more than one, perhaps one can get fixed at a time over a number of months as to make it less of a burden.

If work has already started but are not complete, why is this?

Then let’s not forget that we also do not know what is included in the $2,000 per month maintenance fees, although with an Administrator running the condominium instead of a Board of Directors, the maintenance fees will include the fee for the Administrator.  But perhaps there are a lot of things that the fees cover such as a swimming pool, cable, heating, air conditioning, water, hydro, etc. all of which must continue to be paid for.

Also, the owners could be asked to approve a By-law to authorize the condominium to take out a loan instead of the higher maintenance fees.  Of course the loan would have to be repaid, but it may reduce the need to have the increase in the maintenance fees.

However, I do have a lot of questions and concerns about this and the Administrator needs to sit down with the owners and go over the costs for the condominium and where (and if) the maintenance fees can be reduced.  A lack of communication also seems to be a big issue, and a sit down meeting with the owners would likely help with the issue.