January 2, 2022
Hiring a condominium manager, or management company, is the most popular way to ensure communities are well managed for good reason.
At the most basic level they take care of all the monotonous and complex tasks involved in daily management of your building and community. This includes maintaining common areas, dealing with resident concerns, managing contractors and service agreements, and ensuring building and safety inspections occur as required. This allows your volunteer condo board to operate at a strategic level.
Management services cover a range of offerings. Comprehensive management with a full-time on-site manager is typically priced at a flat annual rate. The manager is dedicated exclusively to your building and compensated for their time working on-site. In return they do more work and are available longer hours than off-site or less than full-time support. Communities without an on-site manager may pay a fee based on number of units. Some may charge a percentage of fees collected from each unit with the percentage dropping as the number of units increase. The average monthly cost per unit of hiring a management company is $46.33 in Toronto.
Rental communities, and condo communities offering services to manage rentals, will have different service requirements than a condo community more focused on resident-owners. Depending on requirements of your arrangement and services offered, the following additional fees may apply:
Eviction Fee – Managing the eviction process can cost between $200 and $500 per case. This primarily applies to rental buildings. Some condo communities may offer this as a service to owner-landlords.
Leasing Fee – Where the management company is used to facilitate rentals there is a cost to advertise the unit, show to prospective tenants, undertake credit checks and pay an agent commission.
Maintenance Fee – Some management companies offer on-site maintenance staff available for building or in-suite repair services.
Reserve Fund Fee – A fee to cover emergency expenses such as a water leak or broken air conditioning system.
Bill Paying Fee – Paying of bills for the corporation.
Early Cancellation Fee – Improper and early termination of a contract.
Managing a high-rise condo community takes time and effort. It is unreasonable to expect a volunteer board to adequately do all that is required. Condominium management services are vital to ensuring communities function effectively.
