PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

You are an administrator because the financial and structural well-being of your property is important to you. That doesn’t mean that you suddenly became fluent in accounting, nor that you are an architect or an engineer. The decisions you make, or don’t make, can have serious repercussions. The legal landscape has also changed a lot in the last few years and along with it, your obligations.

It’s OK to want to do it all, but it can be beneficial to have a management company that can help guide you, ensure compliance and leave you to do the job you were tasked with providing direction and planning for the health of your property. It’s a synergy that’s win-win.

One of the main reasons for the new legislation is to implement a real qualified assessment of condo properties. With many of them having little or no contingency fund, these properties are in need of work and no plan going forward. Calling a contractor is easy, making sure that the right work is done at the right time, not so much. It is also critical to include rapidly increasing costs of goods and services to your maintenance budget allocation. The past year has been marked by important jumps in building material prices and contractors’ quotes are following this trend. Are you comfortable with all this planning?

We believe in making real 5-year plans, in tandem with the legally required contingency fund appraisal, along with up-to-date maintenance logs. If you don’t know what was done and when, how do you know when to schedule the upkeep, or what the cost might be?

Many syndicates have a basic bank account, with a single signing authority. As there are many administrators, this means that generally only one knows what the financial situation of the property looks like, even though this is a large part of an administrator’s mandate. How are you supposed to prepare a budget, create a work list and spot potential fraud if you don’t know what transactions are occurring in your accounts?

We believe in symbiosis between a management company and administrators. Educating administrators on their finances, banking solutions, and verifying bank statements is key.

Unless you are part of the building world, you may not always be able to understand everything your condominium needs, nor know what an acceptable price is. Calling on an external manager allows you to entrust an expert to advise you and help you make the right decisions.

We believe in looking for the right professional, the right service, at the right time; the lowest bid is not always the best option. This is part of the responsibilities of a management company; plan, advise, explain, then take action.

The requests of the co-owners can be many and varied. This can be a real headache for an administrator. All too often, co-owners do not understand their obligations and need their expectations to be managed.

We believe in responding to requests in a timely fashion, in accordance with your declaration of co-ownership, by-laws and providing insight. Of course, we consult with the administrators when the situation is more complex and advise all parties accordingly.