I bought a townhouse two years ago. One of those new developments where you buy off a plan. When talking to the builder rep during the process, she said that the city would pick up garbage but that they would not plow so I had to pay $36 per month for snow plowing in the new development (89 homes).
Unsure, I asked if this was a condominium. She clearly said “no”. It’s not a condominium, it’s a “parcel of tied land” (POTL) and that I most certainly own the home, just like a freehold townhome. Let it be noted that I asked this same question more than once and was told each time that it was NOT a condominium.
Imagine my surprise a year and a half later when, after finally closing on my new home, I got a notice to attend a “turnover meeting” with all of the other new home owners to transfer the responsibility of the “common” land from the builder to the residents. What? And we were required to elect a condominium board consisting of three members.
That evening was when we all learned what a POTL [aka a common element condominium corporation] is.
There are 89 town and link homes in the development and every owner is responsible for their own home and the land it sits on. HOWEVER, the common areas within the development are to be maintained collectively by the residents. Hence, a Common Element Condominium Corporation (CECC).
My second reaction at the meeting (the first reaction was anger) was to run for the board. I threw my hat in and came out President of the CECC for a term of three years. No one was going to be surprising me again!
I have since learned that, in addition to the snowplowing,
the $36 monthly fee is to cover:
• maintenance of the roads and sidewalks
• landscaping of all common areas (ie. Any area that doesn’t fall within a residents property line)
• maintenance and hydro for the street lights
• liability insurance!?
There is also a rule for condominiums that there be a “reserve” fund in place that needs also to be built from a portion of the monthly $36.
That’s a lot to be responsible for. The builder brought a property manager to the turnover meeting and he offered to take care of everything for us at a cost of $20 per unit per month. Yeah, I didn’t like him either.
Fortunately, the home I just left was four blocks away and IS a townhome condominium. I had lived there for five years and knew and liked the property manager. So I called Randy and asked if he would like to bid for the job.
Randy came in at far less than $20 per unit per month and has been a tremendous help to us (the board) because of all of the knowledge and experience he has. I would never recommend handling this without a professional property manager. [FYI, I got a pretty nasty email from the first guy for not hiring him which made me even happier with our decision to go with Randy]
CECC’s are becoming more popular in Ontario, especially with new freehold townhome projects and waterfront developments. Common elements which may be included are roads, parking facilities, a clubhouse, a park or a marina.
CECC’s are attractive to developers because this designation means that they don’t necessarily have to follow municipal road standards required for a traditional subdivision – skinnier roads mean they can fit more houses in. Look for street names on the development map that end with “Lane”. This is a dead give away.
Cities and Towns like these CECC developments because they still get all of the property taxes but don’t have to maintain anything.
Please understand that sharing this is not easy because, quite frankly, I’m a bit embarrassed. How could I not know what I was buying? But none of us did. I think I would have gone ahead with the purchase anyway because the home is and has everything I was looking for, I just don’t like the feeling of being deceived.
I finally decided to suck it up because it’s more important that I educate others of this kind of development.
I have also decided not to let this detract from the joy of my new home. I love it and loved the whole building process from my first stick in the ground to the finished home. I am president of the CECC for three years so I won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
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Image courtesy of Rawich at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
