Sell your condo unit or rent it out?
By: Shamontiel L. Vaughn
Tags: Landlords, Property Management, Homeowners, Renting, Tenants

Where condo board responsibilities begin for landlords

There’s a fine line between what a renter’s landlord will resolve versus the condo association board. Checking out the budget and/or bylaws will pretty much nail down who handles what. Each year, the board creates a financial budget to cover expenses for all condo unit owners. For example, extermination and plumbing charges may be included in condo assessments. So if a renter has a plumbing problem — and as long as it’s not something the renter did for aesthetics or avoidable damage — chances are pretty high that the condo board would cover those expenses from condo assessments paid by all of the unit owners. The same goes for extermination or anything else that has already been included in the annual budget.

There are also certain expenses that are mandatory for the board to cover such as the water and sewage bill (usually spelled out in the bylaws). If the laundry facilities have sewage problems or a tenant is having sewage backups in a sink, that’s on the board to resolve. Pretty much any expense that would affect the entire building instead of just one unit is usually something that is divvied up by the unit owners.

Photo credit: Mitchell Luo/Pexels

The condo unit owners will (usually) know who is in charge of what. They should be able to tell what will come out of their own pockets (or from rent money) versus what the board would be in charge of — from assessments and management contacts. However, as a landlord, all contact about the unit you own should come through you first. This means your tenant(s) should be able to have an open line of communication with you. Referring back to my landlord who would go to Thailand regularly, even when I knew she was on a different timezone, that was the deal. I knew who some other condo unit owners were, but I definitely did not knock on their doors, ring their bells, or call the phones of random board members to fix issues in my unit. It was her responsibility to figure out how to get a plumber to repair my sink or replace cheap blinds she continuously bought for my picture window. If she refused to fix something, which rarely happened besides those blinds, I pointed to the lease and she’d grudgingly do it.

But for a tenant, it may still seem bizarre to not ask the obvious person who is going around fixing things and posting signs about board activities. To them (including me), it seemed logical to just go directly to that person. I didn’t understand where the line was between landlords and the condo board — until I watched it in action. My landlord decided she was going to cut corners on paying for a fence to be installed. She created what my father referred to as a “chicken coup.” It was the laughingstock of the block. The condo board went nuts when they saw what she concocted — in multiple colors, of various materials and in a few different heights. No one would be convinced it was professionally done. Even after weeks of creating her own version of a fence, the board made her take the whole thing down. Her time and money went out the window, and (even though she was on the board) she built a new fence — with professional help.

Condo boards vote on expenses. With a two-third majority, that can pretty much end and begin any project. And condo unit owners vote to have these condo board members be involved each year. (Depending on the bylaws, the board could be made up of a President, Treasurer and Secretary. However, some condo boards have Members at Large.) Tenants will usually not know who does what and in what role (unless it’s clearly stated on a lobby sign) nor the process to vote on building and unit repairs. But condo unit owners are invited to organized meetings to share their views on behalf of themselves and tenants, which means renters should be speaking up to their landlords about ongoing issues.

There should never be a situation in which the board is telling the condo unit owner what a tenant wants repaired. It’s not supposed to work in that order. Board members are not landlords — unless they’re renting out their own units. (Depending on the bylaws, that can be frowned upon, too. Many bylaws insist that board members must live on the property because they’ll have a first-hand view of what needs to be done.)

So if a condo unit owner decides to move to a different property and really doesn’t want to stay abreast of what is going on in the building, it’s almost certainly a better idea to just sell it off. Otherwise, the unit owner will still have to juggle concerns, repairs and expenses in their own homes, plus those of board dealings and prior home. There is no right or wrong answer as to which decision each condo unit owner should make.

I’ve known condo unit owners who own more than 20 properties and can easily keep their ear to the “brick” of each building — knowing all the ins and outs. But without reasonable communication with the board, attending board meetings and knowing who does what, being a landlord can quickly become more work than a property owner is prepared for. The choice is theirs to make. For condo unit owners who are not sure, definitely have someone appraise the unit after moving out to find out its value versus monthly rental rates — and make sure not to create excessively long leases or charge a tenant more than state laws allow for security deposits.