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Condo Investor/Buyer question re: Status of Certificate

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Condo Investor/Buyer question re: Status of Certificate

This is the one and the only thread I found on RFD regarding to most important document regards to condo ownership..
status-certificate-questions-1212117/

There are a handful of buildings I would like to research, regards to fees, liabilities and risks. Can anyone get these docs for free? if so, how?

Wouldn't the real estate agents also have copies around from closing some deals? is there a anonymous trading site where people trade financial statement/reserve fund studies? would anyone want to trade here on RFD?
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LongLiveRFD wrote: This is the one and the only thread I found on RFD regarding to most important document regards to condo ownership..
status-certificate-questions-1212117/
There are a handful of buildings I would like to research, regards to fees, liabilities and risks. Can anyone get these docs for free? if so, how?
Wouldn't the real estate agents also have copies around from closing some deals? is there a anonymous trading site where people trade financial statement/reserve fund studies? would anyone want to trade here on RFD?
"Status Certificate" is summary of the financial position of the condo corporation - the important part is the reserve fund Study update (listing balances, the long-term list of expenditures, along with listing of any special assessments).
The sellers RE agent will get them as part of closing as the owner will ask for this package from the condo office and the package costs some fee (fair bit of pages to read through).

To answer your question differently -- this package is "refreshed" every year so getting an old one may make little sense. So if you are interested in particular building, approach the Condo office to ask them if you can pay for that as prospective interested buyer. I do not believe there's any privacy concerns on getting this as long as you ready to pay for it.
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ohnabatko wrote: "Status Certificate" is summary of the financial position of the condo corporation - the important part is the reserve fund Study update (listing balances, the long-term list of expenditures, along with listing of any special assessments).
The sellers RE agent will get them as part of closing as the owner will ask for this package from the condo office and the package costs some fee (fair bit of pages to read through).

To answer your question differently -- this package is "refreshed" every year so getting an old one may make little sense. So if you are interested in particular building, approach the Condo office to ask them if you can pay for that as prospective interested buyer. I do not believe there's any privacy concerns on getting this as long as you ready to pay for it.
The $100 is not mandated, the Property Management may be instructed by the Board to provide free of charge. More disclosure means more liquidity thus better for owners/investors? I don't know. But reading the financial and the reserve fund is the only rational way of going about ownership...

I am assessing a two buildings on the same block, and potentially I may look at all four bldg there is. This will be $400, the most expensive disclosure there is on earth. Yes I am asking them to take off their pants, but $100 deter average users from using it, and what's the point paying PM for producing these if they are used properly?

Reserve Fund only changes at best every 3 years, any large changes don't happen over months there. A previous month monthly financials will show you a whole lot of details than nothing at all. What's most ridiculous is you won't get the all historical financials or business records (AGM notes), you get the least to satisfy a legal requirement. Who is booking the $100 as profit by the way, the condo corp? or the Management.
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Call the property manager, ymmv, some are quite knowledgeable and helpful, some not so much.

I'm sure you are already aware that buyers of condos typically make an offer conditional on the buyer receiving a current status certificate and finding it satisfactory.
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Do you mean some PM just don't mind sending you reserve study? I will give that a try...I thought the agents could have kept some from recent transactions within the same building.

I don't mind paying $300 per the final 3 buildings and narrow down to the last one.

But everyone starts with broad based search and personally it's for low fee/low liability small units in prime neighborhood. I can tell by the broker level data that some are just bad even without viewing. If I do narrow down to ten, I would be paying $1000 and 7 out of the 10 will be out due to some issues reflected in the statements.
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What is a reasonable reserve fund for a condo? Is there a threshold for it to be a red flag?
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the status certificate is only the surface. there's really no real way to look under the covers, without going through the minutes of board meetings for the past several months, if not years. but those are difficult to get a hold of, with a bunch of bureaucratic red tape.

the reserve fund is an obvious one but just because it has good reserve fund it doesn't mean the unit you're buying is good.

for instance, my building has $1.5M in reserve fund, very healthy. but if you asked me whether i want to buy a unit on the 17th floor, i wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. the water system is divided into high zone and low zone and the 17th floor is where the pipes of the high zone and low zone both meet... so basically you have double the chances of a water leak and pipes bursting.

you will almost never find info like that out on your own, no matter how many status certificates you order.

this is just one example.
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That's the second part why I think the $100 is waste, you don't even get the substance of business conducts such as AGM minutes....I would prefer having access to the monthly stuff (financials or minutes) but honestly that's a whole lot of time but it does build characters out of the stakeholders...

I think any competent PM or super knows where those trouble spots are...we have that issue in our bldg as well. Every year the heating boiler is shut down the water would cool and cause the pipes to contract and causing leak...no fix under $1M. That unit owner had claimed a few times, the corp paid a few times as well....Also power cables, ducts, shafts...etc....Those are unit level details though, given you want and there is opportunity in that bldg...I personally would look on MLS how frequent that unit is changing hand...
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LongLiveRFD wrote: The $100 is not mandated, the Property Management may be instructed by the Board to provide free of charge. More disclosure means more liquidity thus better for owners/investors? I don't know. But reading the financial and the reserve fund is the only rational way of going about ownership...
The Condo Act does state that:

Fee for certificate
(2) The corporation may charge the prescribed fee for providing the status certificate. 1998, c. 19, s. 76 (2
).

and the Condo Act, Ontario Regulation 48/01 sets the upper limit of that fee at $100:

(2) The fee that a corporation may charge for providing a status certificate, including all material that is required to be included in it, shall not exceed $100, inclusive of all applicable taxes. O. Reg. 48/01, s. 18 (2).


Having owned units in several buildings, I've never known one that did not charge the fee.

Also note, the Status Certificate will relate to a particular unit. For example, it will include the condo fees for the particular unit you have requested the certificate for, any arrears for that unit, etc.
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Very good post.
sillysimms wrote: The Condo Act does state that:

Fee for certificate
(2) The corporation may charge the prescribed fee for providing the status certificate. 1998, c. 19, s. 76 (2
).

and the Condo Act, Ontario Regulation 48/01 sets the upper limit of that fee at $100:

(2) The fee that a corporation may charge for providing a status certificate, including all material that is required to be included in it, shall not exceed $100, inclusive of all applicable taxes. O. Reg. 48/01, s. 18 (2).


Having owned units in several buildings, I've never known one that did not charge the fee.

Also note, the Status Certificate will relate to a particular unit. For example, it will include the condo fees for the particular unit you have requested the certificate for, any arrears for that unit, etc.
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sillysimms wrote: The Condo Act does state that:

Fee for certificate
(2) The corporation may charge the prescribed fee for providing the status certificate. 1998, c. 19, s. 76 (2
).

and the Condo Act, Ontario Regulation 48/01 sets the upper limit of that fee at $100:

(2) The fee that a corporation may charge for providing a status certificate, including all material that is required to be included in it, shall not exceed $100, inclusive of all applicable taxes. O. Reg. 48/01, s. 18 (2).


Having owned units in several buildings, I've never known one that did not charge the fee.

Also note, the Status Certificate will relate to a particular unit. For example, it will include the condo fees for the particular unit you have requested the certificate for, any arrears for that unit, etc.
May<> Shall

Your board can demand the PM to provide for free, not charging is not against the act either. I personally would argue it's a good practice.

Some of those info you are referring to are also on MLS, it's a good check but provide no additional substantial information about the building. The RFS is the most substantial piece about that building and it's otherwise not obtainable without that $100 fee, while many other critical information about the building and the specific unit are not part of the Status Certificate package.

Again, I am looking for some of the information in the package and would like to avoid paying fees that amounts above $300 into thousands.
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LongLiveRFD wrote: May<> Shall

Your board can demand the PM to provide for free, not charging is not against the act either. I personally would argue it's a good practice.

Some of those info you are referring to are also on MLS, it's a good check but provide no additional substantial information about the building. The RFS is the most substantial piece about that building and it's otherwise not obtainable without that $100 fee, while many other critical information about the building and the specific unit are not part of the Status Certificate package.

Again, I am looking for some of the information in the package and would like to avoid paying fees that amounts above $300 into thousands.
Yes, the fee is not mandatory, but it is allowed and I've never known a building not to charge it. Good luck getting the info without the fee from multiple buildings - it just isn't going to happen.

In any event, at any condo I've bought at, the seller paid for the status certificate (this was put into the offer). When I was selling, I paid for it. When I was buying the seller paid for it. If you want to obtain multiple status certificates from multiple buildings prior to making an offer, you'll have to cough up the fee yourself.

The MLS listing will show the condo fees for a particular unit, but not all the other pertinent information relating to the unit required as per the Condo Act.
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sillysimms wrote: Yes, the fee is not mandatory, but it is allowed and I've never known a building not to charge it. Good luck getting the info without the fee from multiple buildings - it just isn't going to happen.

In any event, at any condo I've bought at, the seller paid for the status certificate (this was put into the offer). When I was selling, I paid for it. When I was buying the seller paid for it. If you want to obtain multiple status certificates from multiple buildings prior to making an offer, you'll have to cough up the fee yourself.
I know the convention and I am not challenging that. I found some sites that offers the same service for the same $100 fee but with more convenience. Also found few corps bothered to create and host financials and minutes on their own domains...

Maybe there really isn't a formal or informal way, then I won't bother. $300 vs 1% off your ROE is well worth it.
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LongLiveRFD wrote: I know the convention and I am not challenging that. I found some sites that offers the same service for the same $100 fee but with more convenience. Also found few corps bothered to create and host financials and minutes on their own domains...

Maybe there really isn't a formal or informal way, then I won't bother. $300 vs 1% off your ROE is well worth it.
Yes, you will find many property management companies that now offer status certificates electronically. Be careful with this as you'll find most charge an additional fee for the 'convenience' of this.

They are still required to issue paper copies for the mandated $100 if a person doesn't want to pay the additional convenience fee.
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