Parking Entrance Fee

Is it common to charge an entrance fee for indoor/outdoor garage parking space to new owners? Something like the one-time capital initiation fee that new condo owners may be charged. This capital initiation fee goes to the Reserver Fund account.
My Condo Association is working on the 2023 budget, and they examine garage parking space entrance fee for new owners as a means to reinforce the Reserve fund account.

Thank you!

I guess you're saying that spaces aren't deeded to owners? That the HOA assigns them, maybe?

What do your convents or maybe Bylaws say about how these space should be dealt with?

I don't know if it's common, but as Michael notes, it's an interesting idea. New owners often get caught up in having to pay special assessments shortly after moving in because the current and previous owners didn't do their job in funding the reserves properly.

Reserves could be thought of as a type of user fee to cover all the wear and tear the current owners put on the stairs, elevators, concrete in the parking lot, etc., so when the time comes to replace those components, the reserves are there to help pay for it. When someone sells a unit, the new owner shouldn't have to pay for what happened before he or she arrived, but start paying reserves to begin to cover their use of the components. Instead, people scream about "low assessments" and then leave before the horse, pig and dog dookey hits the fan

Remember Surfside? (second time I've written that today).

All of that said, you and your neighbors still need to start funding your reserves properly, so if that's been a problem, your assessments are probably too low, so prepare to open your pocketbook instead of putting all the pressure on the new owners who didn't create the problem.

And, to me, it sounds like the OPs Association did the same thing and wants the same thing - new owners to pay because they don't want to raise assessments to properly fund the reserves.

Our capital contribution is NOT used for reserves. It goes into the extra cash we have in operating budget. We only fund our reserves out of monthly assessments based on our reserve study.

I think using the capital contributions for reserves is more common in condo associations. Our condo sub-associations have perpetually underfunded reserves.

KerryL1,

This is correct! The Rules and Regulations state that the Council assigns parking spaces to resident unit owners or occupants on an annual basis.
There is no reference of charging any extra fees but the monthly parking space rent.

Thanks for your time!

LoriM15,

Great suggestion!

Thank you very much!

SheliaH,

About 18 units are sold on a yearly basis. Actually, we are replacing our roof next year and the cost will be covered by the reserves.
Though, we still need to build the reserves for future capital projects.

All good points, Shelia! Thank you!

I understand wanting to find other ways to raise money, but since the owners are footing the bill anyway, that should be accompanied by a hard look at expenses. If you're on the board, you may want to review the last 3-5 years and see which line items have risen the fastest and figure out why. Inflation is always a factor, but you might have to consider switching vendors to get a bigger bang for the buck. In a few cases, owners may want to consider if they want to keep certain services or take on certain responsibilities themselves - that will likely require a change in the documents, which requires homeowner approval.

Insurance has spiked big time because of natural disasters like hurricanes - and man-made disasters like the Surfside business. Every condo and HOA is going to see a jump in the master insurance coverage, some more than others, if they haven't already seen the change. Have a powwow with your agent to see if there are risk areas you need to pay special attention to or if the association may want to increase its deductible.

And then there's wear and tear - people can be harder on certain elements because they figure the association will cover it, forgetting they ARE the association and any increased costs due to homeowner abuse or neglect will hit their pocketbook sooner or later. An education campaign may be helpful in reminding people of things like:

Don't put heavy trash in the dumpsters - the city won't pick it up and the association has to pay to have this crap hauled away
Clean up after your dog - the poop stinks, can carry disease and attract vermin and kill the grass, and the association will have to pay to have it replaced.
The parking lot is not the same as an auto mechanic garage - stop doing oil changes out there! The oil will drop on the pavement and damage it, and then the association will have to pay to fix the potholes and possibly resurface the area sooner than later (we will already have to do that because it's addressed in the reserve study)

Keep the homeowners informed of all of this and encourage suggestions. Good luck!

JohnC46,

I certainly understand this particular fee. I was surprised when they council started talking about the garage parking "entrance fee" of $250 for new owners for the spot they are assigned; I had never heard of such fee. This is a new fee!

Thank you for your time!

Say, Mary, once again, what do your governing documents say about the parking areas? Only that assn. assigns them? Or something else?