So, this Toronto rainstorm is pretty bad huh? it’s soo bad that a lot of your condo building lobbies are completely flooded. The lights have water coming from them, the drywall is destroyed, the insulation is soaked.
What does this mean for you as a condo owner? What kind of costs are involved and how long will it take to fix?
Each building will have a different set of problems but they will all need to be fixed quickly – for the safety of the building the condo board will begin getting quotes for repairs as soon as they can.
They will need to rebuild walls, fix fried electrical, replace lights and insulation and have mega HVAC machines to dispose of the water.
A good condo board has a reserve fund that will be able to cover repair costs of such flooding but one that does not will be in trouble.
A reserve fund is basically a bank account that the condo management uses to fix things that need to be fixed and a portion of your maintenance fees are added to it each month to ensure it is legally “full” enough.
If you have a reserve fund that is underfunded you may be required to pay what is called a “special assessment”. This SA is an amount decided after a “reserve fund study” has been done and each owner is required to pay it out of pocket to pay for repairs or to replenish.
I’m hoping the flood in my building at Fashion House this evening doesn’t deplete our reserve fund; spending thousands from my own pocket to pay for mother nature’s tears isn’t my jam.
Dani
