Rental fees

Well, our twin high rise condo towers only has a couple of "party rooms." one with a kitchen with fridge, microwave, double sink, counter space, d cupboards & and bar. Everything must b left in a clean conditojn.Our rent is way lower than yours. Refundable deposits depends on size of the group, e.g., 200 for 20-35 guests. Each party room has a nearby restroom, that must be left in a clean condition.

The 2nd room only has a sink & small counter, microwave & small fridge and is more suitable for meetings.

What does your own "community center" contain? Must residents rent the entire center or cna they rent a portion of it?

What is the basis for this figure (the $500)? In other words, what expenses does the HOA actually incur when it rents the community center for a few hours?

My biggest concern is that the Board pulled the rental fee of $500 out of thin air. The community center is a common area for which the HOA has the maintenance responsibility. This means owners pay for the upkeep of the community center pursuant to what the covenants say.

The rental fee is income to the HOA that may cause problems when the HOA has its taxes done.

Judging the $1000 deposit is impossible without knowing more about the size of this community center and what all could potentially be damaged.

In my experience rental fees for HOA-owned clubhouses are quite low; not more than $100 say. Often there is only a deposit and no fee. Why? Because only owners can rent the clubhouse, and upkeep of the clubhouse is already part of all owners' regular assessments, pursuant to the "contract" better known as the covenants.

Most CC&Rs state owners may not use these amenities if they have non-owners residing in their HOA homes. In other words, all residents may use such amenities.

The rental fee's purpose is to reserve the area so that the resident is assured they may have it exclusively for their event.

In my HOA, with many years experience Party Room rentals, our three layer d refundable r deposit fee based on number of guests has worked out extremely well.

In Donte's setting, I can see where a dozen might want just the living room for an inform meeting or, say to watch the Academy awards. A cleaning/damage refundable deposit of $1,000 is completely unreasonable.

I'd say base the refundable deposit on group size with 150-200, say, MAYBE being charged, $1,000. While a group of 25 or some being charged $100

We do, of course, have a form to fill out and the one who rents the room does a walk-thru with a staffer before the event to be sure the area is clean and undamaged. If there IS any it'snoted on the deposit form.

Mabe base the real amount on group size too. BE creative!

Donte,
I agree a fee is a must regardless of what your HOA fees are since most residents will never rent the space. A fee should be charged for this, and a cleaning/damage deposit is customary. If the damage deposit is not in place ahead of the rental it becomes much harder and can include lawyer fees to collect. Remember everyone's version of clean is different.

I think your fees are very high and your owners are correct in complaining. Our community has a Amenity Center that is about 900 square feet and has a kitchen without a stove or dishwasher (dumb that the developer did not think it was needed). Our owners pay $150.00 to rent and the PM holds an uncashed check for $250.00 for cleaning. Over my 7 years on our board the cleaning deposit was used less than 5 times and never was the whole deposit needed.

As noted in my above, Donte, the "Rental fee" is. actually a reservation deposit. It's the best way to make sure the resident has the room on such & such date for x # of hours.

If you're on the Board, Donte, are you? make an agenda item about this topic and have the Board work on it. I again, insist that $1,000 is unreasonable and I've never heard anything close to it on this forum over many years. Perhaps Elle's former HOA changed that amount???

As withMarkM, over 16 years, only a portion of the cleaning deposit has not been returned and that's almost always been for spills on the carpeting.

Btw, like MArkM. we. also permit ownrs to borrow our folding chairs & table with a form saying they'll. bring that back clean & undamaged.thouhh or a fee can be charged---or some such lingo.

Yes I’m on the Board and it is an agenda item for a future meeting coming up. These fees were set by the management company prior to the community being turned over. I do agree that $1000 deposit is too much and would definitely consider dropping the amount of the deposit. But I don’t want to drop it too low. The most that we’ve had is a stain or two on the carpet which has resulted in some people not getting their full deposit back.

I agree with Dean. I think our clubhouse deposit is $250 and is refundable if the place is left clean and in order. The fee itself is $75 if memory serves, and the last time we increased it was due to cleaning costs increasing.

Finally choked our mom to use the rooms. Our Reservation Fee is $10 for 10 ppl.; $25 for 25+ ppl., & $50 for 50

our refundable deposits are $100 for 10; $250 for 25, and $500. for 50.

I like Lori's philosophy of making this amenity easy and really- priced. To me, anything that encourages residents enjoying our common area amenities benefits th Association.

I see carpet cleaning is the common clean-up issue. Our refundable deposits have covered the cost of cleaning such spills.

If some sort of cleaning or damage occurs that is more costly to clean/repair than the deposit, the unit owner could then be treated as a violator of our CC&Rs and Rules & Regs, be called to a hearing and fined accordingly for the damage or whatever. But that was never necessary in my HOA during the 14 years I was on the Board.

I'll try to type error-free.

I want to mention that any resident or group of residents may use our "Party Rooms" at no cost whenever they wish from 8am-10pm unless they are reserved. So it's not unusual seeing individuals reading in them or small meetings in them.

Our Book Club meets in one monthly and they reserve it at no cost because any resident who wants to may sit in.

Resident fees and non-resident fees should be different with non-residents paying a higher fee.

What does it cost to replace the furniture and other items that will need to be replaced, dishwasher refrigerator etc.....this should be covered by the rental fees.

I assume most HOAs, as I noted above, give the Board the authority to fine owners who damage HOA property, including common area amenities. IF--tho' I've never seen it reported here over many years, some resident & their guests trash such a common area, the Board should fine them for the replacement cost, which should be listed in their reserve study.

Thank you everyone for your responses. I’m in favor of lowering the deposit from $1000. Just trying to decide on what that amount should be. We still have a lot of homeowners who haven’t paid HOA fees. But I think we need to come up with a checklist of things that are currently inside the event space and make sure that whoever is renting does a walkthrough before and after their event.

Definitely not. Anyone not in good standing lose access to the pool, the gym, being able to rent the community center and being able me to submit applications to alter the outside of the their homes