By An owners association is a miniature municipality. It has the right to set taxes, determine regulations and make revisions to the architectural structure, impose similar authority on the police to enforce regulations and foreclose if the landlord does not pay his contributions or maintenance fees. So when you are signing a contract for the purchase of a house, apartment, townhouse or property belonging to an organized urban community, you must be aware that you are also signing an agreement of the obedience and membership of owners association.
In some cases, and depending on the value of the property being acquired and the rest of the facilities that surround it, the monthly payment to the association of owners or condominium is quite high. Therefore, in addition to other factors, it is important to understand very well what they are, how they work and what legal and monetary commitments are additionally acquired with the purchase of a housing unit managed by one of these owners associations.
You can speak with an expert on the matter to clarify doubts about the operation of owners association management and how to detect the high points that must be known before stamping the signature of purchase in the contract. There are companies that advise owners associations on budget issues, planning, etc.
In an association with owners, it owns common areas such as green areas, swimming pool, club, sauna, tennis courts and the like. In the condominium, the owner owns a percentage of these common areas and the percentage is established in the contract of purchase. In fact, the owners association is in charge of maintaining those facilities and properties around. It is one of your primary responsibilities and in doing so protects the value of members’ properties.
Generally, all the owners associations have a clause that establishes the obligatory participation when buying a house. In addition to acquiring certain rights, you will also have to fulfill certain obligations whose details appear in the association’s rules manual or in the documents that govern it. Here your real estate agent plays a vital role to buy your home, as he can to the buyers well what conditions of owners associations are before the purchase contract is signed.
Approximate monthly maintenance payment is one-tenth of one percent of the value of the property. It is necessary to know in advance if special payments need to be made, in addition to the monthly maintenance payment. Another point to ask is if the owners association has monetary reserves to cover repair costs of roads, roofs, new constructions, etc. If there are reserves, the likelihood of making special payments is lower. To find out, you should ask for the owners association’s financial statements and have them checked by an accountant or lawyer who knows the matter.
