Submitted by Caraless_While22 t3_123uqr0 in boston
I just bought my condo 2 months ago in a 4 unit building. It was recently renovated and the developer is the head of HOA and hired himself as property manager. My HOA fee is $325 and we were collectively paying the property manager/developer $500/month. He just sold the last unit last week, so we received an email this morning saying he is raising his fee to $1,500 monthly starting April 1–we only collect $1425!!!
For other condo owners in triple deckers—do you use a property manager? What is the cost? We have no amenities, no trash (we just wheel out to the street ourselves), no parking, etc. etc. When I look on Zillow most HOA fees are $200-$300–ours would need to be $600-$700 to cover this!!
Any advice or input is appreciated!
Update—thank you everyone who replied. Clearly this is a money grab and he is trying to take advantage of us. We are awaiting his response on when he will step down. I need to tread lightly as he is the only one in control of HOA bank account, but it does seem he is going against his duties as trustee. I will look into small claims court as an option when we find out more details.
GM_Pax t1_jdweyuw wrote
It sounds to me like there was/is a huge conflict of interest here - the owner, who redeveloped the property, appointed themselves head of the HOA (which should be an elected position), then gave themselves the job of Property Manager ...?
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Also, if I were the person who had bought that last unit? Suddenly tripling his fee for managing the property would be a gigantic red flag, and I would be very inclined to cancel the sale on the spot.
Certainly by what you describe, managing that property is NOT a $1500/month job. $500/month was probably being overly generous, in fact. I mean, what exactly are the fees covering? Lights in common spaces, maybe heat in those spaces, water and sewer bills if not somehow separately metered, snow removal from the front steps/walk, basic liability insurance, and money put into savings against future repair or renovation needs (e.g. repairing a roof leak, etc).