Tony Gioventu
Province
Dear Condo Smarts: We live in a 263- unit, 12-floor concrete building that was constructed in the late 1970s. This was a well designed and well finished building that we were once very proud of.
Over the past 30 years our strata has literally done nothing about maintenance and repairs, other than emergency failures like hot-water boilers, and elevators. Now our deferral has come home to haunt us.
Each owner is faced with an average $19,000 assessment just to maintain and upgrade the exterior, not including the roofing.
Our windows have failed, our decks and balconies are in serious failure and the masonry detailing is in need of serious attention.
To put it bluntly, we figured out that if each strata lot had paid an extra $30 per month over the last 34 years, our buildings would have routinely been repaired, the interest would have paid for inflation costs, and we wouldn’t be doing this at a time when construction costs are at a record high. We are encouraging every strata to look at their long-term plans and plan for the future.
— CC, Vancouver
Dear CC: You are absolutely correct. Unfortunately, our legislation does not yet require strata corporations to plan for the future costs other than minimal reserve contributions.
A serious behaviour pattern that many home owners provincewide have developed is “run to failure.”
It is often too easy to defer maintenance issues because they don’t directly affect our daily lifestyle, but once the roof fails, the windows leak, the elevator seizes, pipes burst, the parkade floods, it’s too late. The costs have accelerated 30 to 50 per cent and your community is faced with costly damages. A solution for strata corporations is to consider bylaws that specifically address repair and maintenance of building components.
There are two considerations. The Operations Manual, which itemizes all components that require annual inspection, maintenance and repairs, and the Renewals Manual, which details all building components, analysis of their current condition, remaining life, schedule for replacement and cost estimates for future repairs.
Once a bylaw is ratified, the strata corporation is bound to the annual and future commitments of repairs and funding.
We’ve all heard the line “Pay me now or pay me later.” In strata corporations it needs to be amended to “Pay me much more later.”
A sample Building Maintenance Enclosure checklist is available by e-mailing Deanna Ferguson at [email protected].
Tony Gioventu is executive director of the Condominium Home Owners Association (CHOA).
E-mail: [email protected]
© The Vancouver Province 2008
