Maintenance

Started by MaureenM1 • 6 replies • 1501 views

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MaureenM1 (PA)
Posts: 344

Posted:

Our President/Builder wants the owners (who pay 190.00 a month dues) to pay for their own gutter cleaning. Since he has the majority of the votes he is stating that he will not authorize the PM to hire the gutter cleaner and pay for it out of our dues. Gutter cleaning has ALWAYS been on our Associations responsibility list not the homeowners responsibility.

Until now, gutter cleaning and most outside maintenance on our homes was paid with the Association dues.

Do most of you pay for outside maintenance of your townhome/condo?

AnnaD2 (Florida)
Posts: 960

Posted:

Who is responsible for paying for new gutters if/when needed?

We're condos and the association (through our maintenance fees) pays for gutter cleaning. They're all connected together along the roof of the building, so it wouldn't make sense for someone to only clean the section outside their unit.

Are yours set up differently?

MaureenM1 (PA)
Posts: 344

Posted:

Gutter repair/replacement is under the Association Reponsibility list. Our gutters run the same way your do.

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

Maureen it is an Association expense for us too but we're 12 family style condo's not townhomes. I sympathize with the problems you're having with the developer but until he turns the community over it's his game and he can and evidently does change the rules. You and your neighbors need to band together and get a price for the service and divide the amount between yourselves and when the money is collected hire the guy. Unfair yes but either way you are going to pay for the service either by paying directly or through your monthly assessments; maintenance free living unfortunately doesn't mean free maintenance.

The following is just a WAG (wild a**ed guess) but from your descriptions in other posts and knowing the general shape of the housing market I'll bet this guy is struggling to keep the doors open and the lights on. To that end he is trying to shift more of what should be his responsibilities onto the H/O's without raising assessments which will make it harder to sell the units he has not to mention the ones yet to be built.

P.S. The majority of our buildings backup on either woods or a tree line and we've been adding gutter guards on that side of the building which has eliminated having to clean them but they are checked seasonally for problems.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699

Posted:

You pay either way.......

- You hire your own gutter cleaner, you pay for it.

- Money is tight, property manager highers gutter cleaner, dues go up to cover the costs, you pay for it.

Either way you look at it, your paying.....

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Maureen, you asked "Do most of you pay for outside maintenance of your townhome/condo?" This depends on whether or not the item is in the common area. Normally this is part of the common area, in which case the association is responsible.

DennisT (Ohio)
Posts: 109

Posted:

On Steve's point, we had a similar situation with dryer ducts. Owners seem to forget that other than interest on deposits, the Association doesn't have any profit-making operations. Every dollar we earn and subsequently spend comes from the owners.

Anyhow, the local fire marshal requires that multi-family buildings have their dryer ducts inspected and cleaned at least once every two years. Our documents state that all utility lines, ventilation shafts, duct work and the like for the exclusive use of a unit are the responsibility of that owner. As such owners are free to use whomever they want for the cleaning. The association negotiated group rates from two contractors willing to cut their price because they could do multiple units in a single visit. The owners then paid their chosen contractor directly. The cost of these two was about $40/unit. If they went elsewhere prices were in the $60-$80 range.

More than a couple people didn't like paying out of their own pockets. We honestly spent 15 minutes at a meeting explaining that if the association covered the expense we'd have to raise fees by $20 a unit/year. If a given expense has to be borne equally by all owners it doesn't matter who signs the check; it's a distinction without a difference.

Gutter cleaning would be similar assuming that all units in the association require it at some point in the same budget year.

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