Share this post
Property Managers are vital partners for condo building developers. A property manager’s key role is to ensure a smooth transition of ownership to condo owners from the developers as they take possession of their individual units and form their first condo board. This morphs into working together with the board on an ongoing basis to continue to maintain its brand new building and ensure proper corporate governance.
Table of Contents
Auburn Rise Phase #3 Opening in Calgary
Congrats to our partner Logel Homes for the opening of their property Auburn Rise building #3 available to owners to take possession. What a great project and area of the city.
Magnum York is the property manager for Auburn Rise and we’ve just started the transition for Phase 3 from “construction” to “lifestyle.”
Together with Logel Homes, we welcomed the first owner to the property last week. A big milestone! So we thought we’d write about the journey to this milestone and happens as they take possession of more units in the coming month or two.
As the property manager for Auburn Rise, we started our job years ago.
We originally helped with the budgeting of the operating costs for all 5 phases of Auburn Rise before they even broke ground for construction for Building 1.
Forecasts are tricky because you have to be immensely accurate at financial situations that are years away. In Alberta’s economy, a couple of years can include a lot of volatility … because we’ve gone through thousands of budgeting cycles and forecasts for condominium corporations, we are able to forecast the volatility and help mitigate risks.
What happens when a condo owner moves into their unit?
The day has finally arrived! The new condo owner takes possession of their home, gets their key fob, and makes the first journey down the hallways of their fresh, new building.
We’ll have already started with janitorial services in your building, and arranged for some basics like mats, landscaping and snow removal.
When a condo owner moves in, they’ll receive a Welcome Package from Magnum York with important details about their new unit like their condominium fee, as well as several forms to review and complete such as bank pre-approved payments for the condo fees.
How do condominium fees get calculated?
The condominium fee gets set during the original budgeting process.
The fee can’t change vary from that original forecast … the Alberta Condominium Property Act stipulates that whatever we forecast for condo fees for each unit is what the owner HAS to be charged when they finally take possession after the building is finished.
It makes it a lot easier for all parties to understand what’s happening.
We also work with partners to ensure great insurance protection for buildings and units.
Why do condo owners have to increase their insurance deductible to a possible maximum of $50,000?
In BFL Canada’s most recent “Condo Legislations Changes” Notice, they state:
“Effective January 1, 2020 the board can recover the Corporation’s deductible from an owner for damages that originate in or from the owner’s unit or an exclusive use area, to a maximum of $50,000.”
Read more about it in our blog post “How do Jan 1, 2020 changes in Alberta’s Condo Property Act impact owners and condo boards?”
When does the condo board take over leadership of the property?
When 51% of the unit factor* in the property has been occupied by owners, then the owners must take over leadership of the property with a newly appointed Condo Board.
In the case of a property like Auburn Rise Phase #3, unit owners take possession over a period the next month or so. We watch the unit factor calculation, and when it reaches 51% it means an important thing:
A “Turnover” General Meeting for all owners needs to be called within 90 days from the date condo unit factor possession reaches 51%.
A date will be picked and all owners will be notified of and invite to the meeting. Magnum York is there to help kick things off with proper board governance and meeting hygiene.
Different methods are used to appoint the first condo board, but however people step forward to put their hand up, the most important part is that the owners vote to elect them as directors.
It should be noted that the Builder of the property stills owns the balance of the units in the building … 49% to start and then slowly declining to 0% as all the units are sold and new owners take possession. Because of this, the builder usually gets a seat on the board.
Am I a good fit for a condo board?
If you’re interested in what it takes to be on a condo board, take a look at our 20-page eBook “How To Be A Great Board Director In Alberta.”
What does Magnum York do for the new condo board and corporation?
Once the board is in place, they are in charge of guiding the condo corporation and ensuring good governance. As partners with the new condo board, Magnum York assists with:
- Condo Accounting & Bookkeeping
- Condo Forecasting & Budgeting
- Capital Project Management
- Vendor & Contract Management
- Physical Maintenance
- Condominium Meetings (Board + AGM)
- Condo Insurance
- Condo Correspondence
- Condominium Bylaws
Here are a few other pictures of the Auburn Rise in Calgary.
* What is a Condo Unit Factor?
According to the website “Gimme-Shelter:” https://www.gimme-shelter.com/what-are-condominium-unit-factors-50093/
“Condo unit factors are used to define the portion of ownership in a condominium building or complex. They are much like ‘shares’ in a company but the company, in this case, is a condominium. All condos are divided up into 10000 unit factors and each owner has a certain amount of them based on the size of their portion of the common property.
Unit factors are set by a developer when a condominium is built. In a conventional condominium, they are typically based on the size of the units. The larger the unit, the more unit factors an owner has. The smaller the condo unit, the less a person has.”
Comments (0)