Question for condo owners

[wtom]

Not gonna poll it but if you own or owned a condo in its first-year of occupancy, please state the builder and the approximate percentage that the maintenance fees changed by after the initial year. Thanks!

[JSI]

New condo right? I live in an older condo building in Rosedale. My fees have not changed much but I hear new ones go through the roof in the first couple years.

[silvermist99]

especially with HST coming in next summer....

Majestic Court, times group.

I purchased the place with down payment for it 2.5 years ago was told the estimated main fee which sounded quite reasonable. When I took occupancy of it this july, they were already billing at 19% more than the estimate......... It already went up the roof and threw my budget off since the first day I moved in 8-)

I don't want to know what it'll be like next calender year when the building closes...

what is yours like?

[Cardinal Fang]

Builders frequently under report maintenance cost of the projects to their marketing people who in turn relay it to purchasers via the condo. documents. Much of this has to do with what type of material finish they spec on the project.

When the projects start developers have great ideas on what they want to use and sell the project that way. When construction actually commences and they do their budgets they suddenly realize they can't use what they wanted. So they cheap out or as they like to refer to it....VALUE ENGINEER it to make it cost effective to build. This protects their bottom line. Unfortunately, this drives maintenance fees up because cheaper materials and equipment are only cheap to purchase and install. They are expensive to maintain.

Once a condo goes through their first maintenance schedule they have a pretty good idea of what their costs will be to up keep the property and by then they will stabilize. I've dealt with one developer who was absolutely unethical when it came to reporting maintenance fees. So much so that they were taken to court by the Condo Board when it came to power.

[BoostieMonster]

Builder: Diamante
Condo fee hike: 6.88%

[wtom]

silvermist99, I live next door to you; eko by Liberty Development.

After first year, the maintenance fees are upped 16%.

I'm on the board of directors and approved this, given all the financial details we have but no history to refer to for patterns. Of course, any and all owners who believe they have a right to complain do so.

It's pretty much a known fact that any pre-build condo you purchase WILL have an increase in maintenance fees after the first year. Of course, different builders will have different percentile changes on these said fees. People just like to bitch and complain. I wish I can throw them onto the board for next year and see how well they do to keep the fees from increasing just a single-digit percentile if not increase at all.

Fang; my thoughts were similar to the facts (?) you've stated. :)

[PCLoadLetter]

especially with HST coming in next summer....

http://www.hstpetition.com

Sign please!

[silvermist99]

silvermist99, I live next door to you; eko by Liberty Development.

After first year, the maintenance fees are upped 16%.

I'm on the board of directors and approved this, given all the financial details we have but no history to refer to for patterns. Of course, any and all owners who believe they have a right to complain do so.

It's pretty much a known fact that any pre-build condo you purchase WILL have an increase in maintenance fees after the first year. Of course, different builders will have different percentile changes on these said fees. People just like to bitch and complain. I wish I can throw them onto the board for next year and see how well they do to keep the fees from increasing just a single-digit percentile if not increase at all.

Fang; my thoughts were similar to the facts (?) you've stated. :)

Thanks yes, I know they go up but did not expect the increase to be 19% with no warning whatsoever, that put a huge dent in my budget :bang. I did not know maintenance fee was up 19% till a week before closing when I visited lawyer.

I'm complaining because I paid for the condo expecting the builder to have done all the research, patterns of operation cost before they sell the package to public. As a first time home owner paying large amount of money, I expect the builder to quote all expenses accurately which they failed to deliver.

For my builder, they have another building in commerce valley area that is very similar to mine and its been there for years. I don't see why they couldn't base on that or the other hundreds of condos around GTA.

[wtom]

Definitely with other residential buildings that have been for years, the builder should have a better history to go by in budgeting for future years. I don't know which builder it is but I know the condos north of the cinema over at Hwy7/Yonge shot up 30% from 2nd to 3rd yr for maintenance fees. Insane.

On the flipside, a Daniels building in Mississauga near Square One, I believe, only raised maintenance fees by 4% after first year. My friend who bought there prebuild had his closing date the same day as occupancy. Wow.

[Cardinal Fang]

I don't know which builder it is but I know the condos north of the cinema over at Hwy7/Yonge shot up 30% from 2nd to 3rd yr for maintenance fees. Insane.


Empire Communities did those. The townhouses that surround the three condo buildings were done by Daniels if I'm not mistaken. Empire is relatively new to condo builidngs in the GTA. They have more experience outside the GTA.

[rage2021]

Hey random question, why are condos so expensive? I mean, including the mortgage, condo fees, property tax and utilities its like basically paying for a house?!? They have jumped in price sooo much.