re: the roof thing. They are townhouses, but in Vancouver a townhouse just means a condo with private entry. Hence, like condos, the complex falls under the management of a strata council. I would own my unit, but since I share walls and gardens with other people, everyone pays a maintenance fee to keep up these common properties - to pay the gardener, fix fences and so on. Otherwise, if my roof started to rot, but I refused to fix it, everyone in my building could lose their home.
In a situation like this, most places ask every owner to contribute a certain amount of money in a lump sum. My friend Keryn, who just bought a condo, has a similar problem in her building (in Vancouver, roofs rot easily for obvious reasons) but everyone just paid up the money per unit, so the renovations are already paid for. My complex is much bigger than her condo building, and has a lot more lower income families, so not everyone could spare three thousand dollars each. So the strata council hiked the maintenance fees instead to pay for the necessary repairs. Otherwise, the roofs would go unfixed and the buildings would eventually have to be demolished.
And no, I'm sure the fees won't go back down - see earlier comments - like taxes, once raised, maintenance fees aren't likely to go down. Probably the strata council will, once finished the required renovations, will either keep the extra money in a contingency fund, or will use it to continue improving the complex in other ways.
In a situation like this, most places ask every owner to contribute a certain amount of money in a lump sum. My friend Keryn, who just bought a condo, has a similar problem in her building (in Vancouver, roofs rot easily for obvious reasons) but everyone just paid up the money per unit, so the renovations are already paid for. My complex is much bigger than her condo building, and has a lot more lower income families, so not everyone could spare three thousand dollars each. So the strata council hiked the maintenance fees instead to pay for the necessary repairs. Otherwise, the roofs would go unfixed and the buildings would eventually have to be demolished.
And no, I'm sure the fees won't go back down - see earlier comments - like taxes, once raised, maintenance fees aren't likely to go down. Probably the strata council will, once finished the required renovations, will either keep the extra money in a contingency fund, or will use it to continue improving the complex in other ways.
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