CONDO ARCHIVES

Avoid the Band-Aid Solution

November 2022

Special assessments are feared in condominium communities that pride themselves on keeping condo fees low.

When faced with levying a special assessment, some boards will choose to defer major repairs recommended by engineers or implement band-aid solutions.  As seen when Florida’s Champlain Towers collapsed, these strategies perpetuate a false sense of security among owners who are not fully informed of their corporation’s financial status and state of infrastructure.  They fail to understand the risks with keeping condo fees low.

In practice, projects are not just deferred.  They can be ignored or forgotten until too late.

Many of these projects involve large financial expenditures requiring years of savings if one is to avoid special assessments.  This requires planning, not only for the project but for its financing.  For communities without an adequately funded reserve fund, this means putting more money away today before these projects are necessary.