Sunridge Estates is a townhouse complex, not an apartment building. We have no elevator, lobby, party room, pool, or underground parking; all we have is landscaping and recreational sundecks.
The single most valuable common asset that this strata corporation has, or at least that it once had, was its landscaping. It was the main reason we bought our townhouse, instead of an apartment, but
about 25% of owners with exclusive use of unfunded, unauthorized extra decks pay the least and take the most, which created horrific historical costs for other owners.
We pay strata fees to cover landscaping, repairs and maintenance, insurance, and management. However, a long history of disputes over unfunded extra decks and resistance to user fees to pay for the extra expense attributable to their existence left this strata complex in a horrific condition without landscaping reinstatement or maintenance for more than 5 years. Property values suffered. So did I.
Even though we have no common elevators, lobbies, hallways, resident caretakers, underground parking garages, gym equipment, swimming pools, saunas, hot tubs, or recreational facilities other than sundecks, and very little shared plumbing or electrical - without user fees council has proven that we cannot afford to restore the landscaping of this troubled strata corporation to its former quality.
*******************
The strata corporation has never been able to fund extra decks for the exclusive use of a minority without sacrificing landscaping and other obligations, to the detriment of the majority of owners. That is one of the problems. The other is that 3-bedroom owners continually pay more than their fair share over the years than the 2-bedroom owners who enjoy the exclusive use and benefit of extra decks. With 3-bedrooms, you own more - and pay more - for a lot less use and benefit.
We aren't talking about nickels and dimes. We are talking about many thousands of dollars. We are not talking about a temporary problem either. We are talking about one compounding for years; soon to be decades.
The expenses associated with the extra decks were on average double the repair estimate for strata plan decks. It was unaffordable - and contributed to keeping the common property in a derelict condition for years.
At the 2007 Annual General Meeting the owners directed council to have extra decks funded by those owners who had the exclusive use and benefit of them and to remove any that those owners would not pay for. The minutes were tampered with, and instead of implementing user fees or charge-backs to provide funding as directed by the owners, members of council with extra decks had special levy funding diverted from reinstating the landscaping into constructing extra decks.
We paid for that landscaping budget. It was clearly stated at the time that we voted more than 75% to approve that levy, that it was not for extra decks.
Those councillors acted in a conflict of interest and against the direction that the owners gave at the AGM as well as when we voted to approve the levy. They violated practically all of the rules and continue to profit from their own misconduct at the expense of others on an ongoing basis.
Not only were the repair estimates for the extra decks more than double those of the strata plan decks, there are indications that some were about 10 times more. According to the minutes all the funding came from the landscaping budget; special levies heavily subsidized by other owners who suffered significant loss of use and enjoyment and economic hardship.
We bought our townhouse for its "street of dreams" landscaping. For us, allowing the trees surrounding our unit to be removed for deck additions has been sort of like a gang banning us from a recreation facility - making us pay for benefits we are deprived of. It spoils our ability to use and enjoy the common property and common assets that we own and pay for. It's been a costly loss to us and to the environment, which was reflected in a $10,000 reduction in our strata lot's comparative value.
******************
This is not an apartment building - where the owners are all in it together.
The owners of some strata lots live on another street; one that is out of sight and takes several kilometers to drive to.
A user fee for the benefit of the strata corporation conflicts with the self-interest of these key players. Our losses are not shared by these people - they are orchestrated by them.
