A minority of Owners' dues might increase a lot!

Kerry

Who has determined throughout the years what your dues should be. I have dealt with properties that have commercial property involved and while it days a little time and patience, is generally pretty simple to figure out. Once figured out an amendment should be drafted so that future bards and management company don't have to go through year after year.

Not sure a lawyer is the best person to do this, I would highly recommend someone that knows finances.

Kerry

While current computations show they might be underpaying the question is has this always been so? If not, than I say little chance of collecting newly computed back amounts.

It is probably going to be costly and you could get some pushback on changing it to be fairer and the pushback could be serious/legal if you want to charge back. Might be better to set up a new procedure and forget pay back.

No one wants to collect any "back" dues, JohnC. We only want it correct going forward. The errors were made in good faith so even if an H/O wanted to sue, probably wouldn't have a chance as no one thinks the mistakes were intentional.

From what I can tell, Richard, since '06, with a part of the problem since the building opened in '01.

My question is: assuming our attorney says yes, the 92% have been overpaying for some items since 06 & others since '01, how do we ease the pain of a 19% hike of the dues to the 8% beginning in '16. Sorry is I was unclear. I am not counting the Comm. Owner among any of the residential areas. The 8% receive fewer services, than the 92% so pay lower dues. But some of the so-called special benefits that the 92% pay for, benefit all H/Os.

Our MC, Richard, has accounts in CA, NV & AZ and so far as I know doesn't specialize in high rises though they have a few such accounts in our downtown area.

Of course there's an easy way to adjust the numbers IF our attorney's opinion is that we should or even must.

My question, again, is how does our Board lessen the hit that almost the 20% raise in the dues of the 8% who've been underpaying through no fault of their own?

I'd rather not get into the but you can inmate what deus were in 2 towers, with lots reserves items, 20 contracts and an onsite staff of 18 or so.

1. Before going to the CPA, I would ask your RS (who is familiar with the physical property) how he would reallocate burdens to better align with actual use, wear, and value received.

2. The comm/res allocations might be the more difficult. The recommended standard I would provide to the CPA would take into consideration the difference between rentals in your area in $/sf for comm vs res RE.

Thanks, JohnC, I think we should flip your idea and get the Attorney's opinion first. 2. Get our MC's CPA to explain it to Owners. He has indeed already calculated how much each of the three areas will pay in dues IF the opinions are what we expect. He is a very reassuring well-spoken person (even though he's been ,imo, wrong about some billing since '06 & '10. And he didn't catch earlier errors either). But neither did an independent CPA firm we hired for a different matter, nor did our previous GC, nor did a previous Reserve analyst.

Th Comm. Owner's sq. ft. isn't a issues, NpS. Our condo plan and the DRE budgets to which our CC&Rs refer us are clear cut. The Comm Owners pays a certain % of everything they/their tenants use except for utilities. Since they may not use our pool, spa, locker rooms or have access to a nice water feature, they do not pay their usual % for water. They also don't use the elevators in the towers, the lounges, gym, so they don't pay for those vendor's contract.

So it's not just a matter of reserves, but of the operating budget too for all entities. I do believe that the Comm. Owner will begin to be billed its % for all reserves items that they use starting in 1/16. These were determined by our chief engineer & newish PM, who's very experienced with mechanical & plumbing issues.

The trouble on this issue is they have not been billed their small % at all for a certain expensive op. budget contract. In addition, there is one utility where the reduced % that's designated in the DRE Budget is unrealistically low. But since it's specified in the DRE doc, I don't think we can bill them for more of that utility. The attorney is answering this one too.

As stated at least once above, Richard the reason we need an attorney's interpretation of our CC&Rs AND our DRE budgets is that: NO amounts or names of operating budgets or reserves components are in our CC&Rs re: ANY of the three areas. They only are in our DRE budgets, which are very difficult to comprehend.

I think you're right. We need to explain in writing and probably at a special meeting that there is a necessary adjustment being made due to long-standing misunderstandings by many parties of our CC&Rs.

Accountability is a different matter that I don't want to get into here. It is not my question. I still, though, want anyone's ideas about making the big increase less burdensome. Maybe there just is no way...

It also is what our MC's CPA & his staff do for a living involving 300 accounts.

I'm, pretty sure we now have the accurate numbers. And Our MC's CPA seems to agree. The question to our attorney is do our bizarre documents permit us to bill as we think they state we may? It's the words that need legal interpretation, NOT the numbers.

Luckily, I just learned, our GC has another major high rise with the same problem in another city. I hope his head start with them will offer insights to us.

It's a lo , JohnC if dues are really high in twin towers where there are two sets of everything to reserve for and maintain. I'll just say that on average among several high rises near us plus us, we're talking about $800/mo.

There's huge variation though depending on # & types of amenities, size of the HOA, sq. ft. variables. A couple of nearby HOAs, for instance, have (required) valet parking and concierge services. We don't !

I trust you when you say they have a handle. I have worked with a number of CPA's and they wouldn't know where to start. They know debits and credits, analyst not being their strong suite.

It's a lot , JohnC if dues are really high in twin towers where there are two sets of everything mechanical, plumbing & fire life safety equipment (e.g. generators, tanks full of water) to reserve for and maintain. I'll just say that on average among several high rises near, us plus us, we're talking about $800/mo.

There's a huge variation though depending on # & types of amenities, size of the HOA, sq. ft. variables. A couple of nearby HOAs, for instance, have (required) valet parking and concierge services. We don't !