Condominiums is an apartment building in which the units are individually owned but the common spaces are jointly owned by all individual owners.
Association Fees. - The common areas in a condominium are owned jointly are usually governed by a board of directors or another group of representatives. In addition to your realty taxes, you will also be responsible for assocition fees; These fees ensure there is enough funding to fix the roof, insure owners against liability, and advertise resale, rentals of unit in the condominium.
Association rules are designed to keep the appearance of the buildings professional and uniform; This supposedly keeps property values higher. And suppose to run like a democracy with trustees being elected by the majority of unit owners and subject to be voted out.
On the contrary, many complaints arise out of malfunctioning condo boards. Only close watch and active participation of all members will help to keep a condo board in check. Attend all meetings, record them for verification of the minutes. Pay fees and assessments then argue disagreements to avoid eviction and or liens leading to foreclosure to your condo. Check out the declaration, and laws governing your property and know whether rules or regulation violates your rights. The law gives a lot of power to the board, and abuse of those powers can and does happen.
Here are some common condo board abuses;
•Poor or no financial Management;
•Problem with the transition from old to new board; Power Hungry condo Trustees;
•Condominium Associations or Corporation are all about the "boards" desire to make something new that is not needed for the most part;
•Condominium Associations or Corporation are an archaic and risky source of housing, much of the reserves to pay for costly repairs/capital expenditure "evaporate" with each new board;
•Fraud of Funds, and Kick-backs are common and expenses are often padded;
•Most Boards are out of control and in business to gain funds for personal use;
•Large amout of money are being stolen from condominium owners with no recourse but lengthy and expensive court cases;
Please note that this forementioned article were taken from online search and capsulized in this manner for purposes of discussion.
Does this apply to the philippine condominium association and corporations too? PLease feel free to share your experiences good and bad. And how you made a difference to correct this dysfunctional board abuses outside courts, if any.