Condo rules going against State laws

[terraformer]

There was a 5-alarm fire at a condo in Lexington a couple of weeks ago.

According to what I've heard (I do not have direct knowledge), the Condo Association erred in purchasing sufficient fire insurance for a reconstruction of the structural and common areas, and as a result, each of the unit owners will be subject to an assessment. The amounts vary, depending on unit size, but are in the range of $350,000 to $400,000.

Few people realize just what a potential commitment and loss of sovereignty purchasing a condominum unit entails. Which, I suppose, is a good thing, or no one would ever buy one.

A piece of me wants to say that if MA wanted to really fix some problems, they would mandate condo associations hire "certified" property managers and leave boards to QOL issues. I know they would screw that up even so I won't say it but man, this is downright criminal because I am betting that the owners will not be able to take their insurance payout, without this being tagged on, which makes just about everyone's unit (I am assuming $350 value) null valued. They basically just lost everything and it was not even their fault, assuming of course they were not on the board. I bet every idiot in that place who squabbled over this noise, that color and all the other personality conflicts that my friend sums up as "condo crap" wishes now they had worried about the big stuff and not what parking space they couldn't get.

 

[richc]

I'm just thinking out loud here on the losses suffered in Lexington... and IANAL... but...

- Are the trustees legally accountable for a reasonable level of care?
- Is the insurance broker/company also responsible for insuring adequate coverage?
- Are there laws in place requiring adequate coverage by the association?
- What about the mortgage companies... don't they make sure there is adequate insurance in place?
- And what about the homeowners... was anyone paying attention? In Lexington you've gotta figure there was one lawyer or accountant living in the complex.

I've owned condo's in the past as rental properties. Some were great to deal with. In a couple it seemed that everyone on the association board had a power complex and loved to play deputy dog with the owners. But a mistake like this being missed by so many people is unforgivable. This will ruin the lives of many people.

Rich

 

[Knob Creek]

My buddy had a condo in Fla. And even though his building suffered no Hurricane damage another building in the complex did. He got wacked a big assessment for that.