Condo doc, condo rules

You're all probably already aware of this, but absolute prohibitions on satellite dishes are unenforceable, as federal law invalidates such regulations, be they in master deeds, condo rules, or whatever. Google "otard" for more info (stands for the FCC's relation on Over-the-Air-Reception-Devices. So the "no satellite dishes on balconies" rule would be unenforceable.

I have no problem with the requirement that all outward facing window treatments be white or off white. I think a condo building that has a mishmash of colors in the windows looks like crap, and I wouldn' t buy into it. And I think it's just common sense that no grill - gas or charcoal - should be allowed on balconies. Don't the local fire departments have rules about this? On the other hand, it's ridiculous that someone can't check under the hood or even wash the car on the premises.

Outdoor grills are not allowed on balconies above ground level by MA fire safety regulations.

I have good ones as well. i lived in Braintree for 3 years in a condo with a friend of mine & I was not allowed to park my truck (mind you it was regular truck, no commercials plates, construction equipment etc.) in the parking lot that could probably hold about 30-40 vehicles even though we only had a total of 16 people using them. I was told i had to park it else where or I'd be fined $50 a day. The same went for my motorcycle which wasn't loud or anything of that nature. After a while i said the hell with it, and nothing was really said, but was fined on 3 different occasions & was told I would be towed the next time. How is this fair when you have people parking their monster SUVs, vans, and H2s in the same lot? Condo rules and bylaws are terrible

Ever see a house with 7 or 8 satellite dishes hanging from the front. Do you really want your condo property to look like that.

What if someone in the garage gets a flat? Do they have to drive it outside on the rim because changing a tire is repairing the car? What if a battery dies? Have to tow the car because a jump isn't allowed?

Down the Cape, my in-law's condo association has rules about hanging towels out to dry. With energy bills the way they are and the concern about greenhouse gasses, I suggested she petition association for a change to allow towels to dry during daylight hours, because it would be the environmentally and financially correct thing to do. She looked at me like I was from Mars. I think she would have rather walked on broken glass than faced the condo association.

As a buyer agent who helps a lot of home buyers purchase condos, I always advise my clients to carefully review all of the condo documents, especially the rules and regulations. If they don't feel comfortable with the rules as they are written, it is not the right building for them.

My experience has been that the rules and regulations are put in place to ensure a consistent look to the building and common areas as well as for the safety and enjoyment of all residents. Sometimes changes to existing rules and regulations are not driven by unit owners, but are mandated by city and state building and safety codes. Additionally, rules and regulations help to ensure that one or several owners or residents do not negatively impact the significant financial investment of others by making the building or complex less desirable.

It is important for condo buyers to remember that they are not only buying their own unit, but are entering into a business arragement with several (or sometimes many more) people. They should not only be concerned about the rules and regulations, but also about the financial philosophy of the building. For example, does the association have to do a special assessment for practically every repair or improvement that needs to be made or do they fund a healthy repair and maintenance fund so the building is well maintained without the need for constant assessments. Each building is different and as a condo buyer you want to make sure that the building is someplace that is going to be compatible with your needs and desires because it is very difficult to change the philosophies of the current unit owners, management company and Trustees.

Zeus, it doesn't matter what you want it to look like. Federal law is quite and supercedes any condo agreement. Satellite dishes are allowed and thats that.

If you dont want to abide by the condo rules, buy a house. If you failed to read the rules before you bought, shame on you.

Ms. Fischman's comments from her client are not given any context and thus not useful. Did the city where the property was located have a fire code that restricted gas grills? Were the client's neighbors' grills on balconies or on the roof? For example, in the city of Boston ANY open flame grills, whether charcoal, gas or propane, are forbidden on rooftops. Ms. Fischman's seems to be unaware of such restrictions because her implication is that the condo rules were unreasonable.

The most vexsome issue with many condo associations is people's use of common areas as if it were their own property. Such use, unless clearly provided for in the condo documents, is unlawful - and not very neighborly. I live in one condo and own another as a rental. In the rental unit (in a three unit condo building), I am constantly having to fight with one unit owner who leaves boxes, shoe racks and a coat tree in the hallway. My tenant complains to me about this and says the other owner tells her that she can do what she wants because she's a property owner and he is only a renter. Unfortunately without going to court and spending money on legal costs and fees there's not much you can do.

A rule to be wary of - rental of condo units. I recently encountered a complex still under developement that did not limit the number of units that could be rented.
The rule instead was rental had to be for a minimum of a year. Builder didn't want to face the reality that the units were overpriced, and so instead stopped trying to sell the unsold units and turned them into rental - destroying the value of the owned units. Glad I didn't buy in that develpement

While living in a condo, the by-laws changed monthly according to the whim of a few. It was basically done to weed out young families and convert it to a retirement community. We had the option to buy (we were renting) and decided that after all that and then the $10K assessment to fix things because of mismanagement of funds, we decided enough was enough.

However, this is not just a condo thing. Get into a neighborhood with a HOA or covenant, it is the same. COA, HOA and covenants are really legalized witch hunts and high school bullying.

Reasonable people set reasonable rules. The condo rules reflect the wishes of the condo association. As such, I would not only examine the documents closely but I would consider how these reflect on the existing members of the association and how it does business, and whether this is a group with which I want to be associated.

Condo rules are good! The stronger they are the better for the ownership community. They are like mini neighborhood associations. I don't agree about the "questionable" rules. There is usually very good reasons for the rules that go into place. If you don't like them then condo living probably isn't for you.

I think those condo rules are perfectly fine - and good. If I lived in a place with indoor parking, I wouldn't want people repairing their cars or opening packages of oil in the garage. It not only causes a mess (even minor drips here and there over time can cause unsightly damage!) but smells and looks bad. While I'm sure some condo associates can be over the top, stright rules means the residents care about their home and the common areas - which usually makes for a better living experience.

My parents have been planning to move to FL when they retire and are able to sell their home here. They purchased a condo down there several years ago, and did much research before doing so. They wanted to be able to bring their dog, knowing that even if it wasn't the dog they had at the time, they are dog people and will always want to have one. The searched and searched for a association that allowed pets, and when they found one had an attorney review the bylaws, etc before they purchased. They currently go down on vacation, etc, until they are ready to move. They recently had a conversation with one of the owners who lives there year-round and were talking about their dog. The other owner was sure the bylaws don't allow pets and now has stirred up a bunch of the other owners to try and change the rules to disallow them. Several of the other owners treat my parents like they have no business being there and shouldn't have a say in anything because they don't live there year-round yet.

I lived in a condo myself for several years and was tired of other people having any input into what I do. I have no issue with stuff like the outside of the building having a uniform appearance, but stuff like us not being allowed to hang a single decoration on our door, which faced an interior hallway, really annoyed me.

Condo rules are subject to change. So you may read them all you want in the beginning, if you get a group that pushes for other rules, that's it! The worst are people who just want to spend & spend & spend & spend in upgrading!
cezannespalette

Some towns are getting into the act, making up really oddball zoning laws that resemble housing association laws. Not just obvious stuff like nuisance laws (junk cars, etc) but things like you can't park a vehicle in your driveway if it has a commercial plate, or you can't park an RV in your driveway unless the driveway is beside, not in front of the house (and made of concrete, not gravel). It's scary how people are such thugs against their neighbors. Nobody wants to see a lawn gone wild or a crack house on their block, but the draconian enforcement, and the utterly asinine rules are unacceptable. I'll never move into a home or condo where there are "rules" beyond the minimum to protect safety.

This is why I prefer renting to buying. I could afford to buy a condo, but I much prefer to rent an apartment in a luxury high-rise complex. If the rules change, you can just move...

I was looking at a condo that wanted you to have your washer and dryer in the basement of the building...sorry but I might as well keep renting if I have to abide by someone rules like that and not have my laundry unit inside of the unit that I live in.

If looking to buy a condo, resign yourself beforehand to the fact that there is always one or two lunatic owners in every condo complex.

Beware of buying a condo in a building with commercial units at the ground level. Particularly if the "majority owners" (often determined at the time of the building GOING condo, not the value nor square footage at the time that you buy) own the commercial units, and especially if they rent them to third parties. The commercial units' occupants will bully the the owner occupants, and are usually not held accountable for many aspects of their damage to the property, noise, and other neighborhood disruptions. And almost always, the owners of the commercial units will side with the businesses because they can often collect twice as much as the owner occupants can collect for a residential unit.

We were under agreement on the purchase of a new home and the sale of our condo. At the closing we were made aware of a special assessment to repair a few units in a building that wasn't even ours. We couldn't complete the sale without first shelling our thousands of dollars to repair units in the other building. It was really bad timing for us and really good timing for the buyers. We didn't have all the extra money we thought we would to purchase things for the new house. My advice to potential condo buyers is to make sure the association has a really big escrow account for such things.

While some of these comments are correct that dishes have to be allowed by federal law.... the condo association has the authority to dictate where they are located.

I live in a condo in north andover and the biggest issue is my lazy, self-absorbed neighbors. We had a recycling program cancelled because people put inappropriate things in the bins, like vacuum cleaners. People also leave televisions and bbq grills next to the dumpster like they don't know they can't throw those in the trash. Sometimes when visitors park mistakenly in their spots they duct tape notes to their cars (my grandmother didn't notice the sign that wasn't there). They also don't clean up after their dog's messes, even when it's in the elevator. If you're interested there are plenty of units left at _____________ Anything goes, even lying in the brochure about amenities that will never be built. Condos are great.

I'd like to be a voice of reason here. When I first moved to Boston several years ago, my wife and I ended up in a condo. We honestly didn't really know any better. The neighborhood was fabulous and the building looked like a nice complex similar to one we had lived in in another city. The landlord, probably the best we've had since living in Boston, was great- but at the signing he warned us to beware of the "condo commandos". Whoa unto us, that we did not pay attention.

The building (in one of the city's greatest neighborhoods, next to a certain baseball park) was beautiful- but we weren't even moved in yet when the problems started: we got a fine for not notifying the organization when we were moving in... But it got much better in the short year we lived there: I'd had a little gecko for years, he stayed in a little terrarium and never ever came out- the landlord said it wouldn't ever be a problem- after all the little gecko was maybe only 4-5 inches long. Well- a neighbor must have looked in the window and saw because a magic letter slid under our door not 2 days later saying lizard goes or you get fined. Thankfully my sister watched the little guy for a year until we were out. The of course there was the fine for putting in our own air conditioners, the jack o'lantern at Halloween, the wreath on our door at Christmas... Oh yes, there was even a complaint that when my best friend's mother came up from NYC to make us one of her delicious traditional Bangladeshi dinner- apparently the spices and cooking displeased a neighbor or two, you betcha- we got a letter... Got a noise complaint against us during the WORLD SERIES- guess we rooted too loud for the Sox. Oh yes- and then we were harassed by a neighbor who called us "breeders".

So, given my personal experience- I will be cold in my grave before I EVER live in a condo building ever again. Certain rules are reasonable, but what we experienced was not only a clear infringement on what seem to be basic human rights, but a little bit of bigotry to top it off. We've since moved to Somerville and never looked back. The harrowing thing is that condo culture is really starting to spread over from Cambridge...

I have friends that live elsewhere who attest that Boston's condo culture is some of the worst. And frankly- I think it attracts the worst kind of people who are never content to live and let live. When my wife and I do buy- we will avoid any condo association or home-owners association like the plague.

Condos are pathetic for precisely these reasons. Rarely worth the money. If you overbuild an area condos are what you get. Living like an animal in a dorm-style setting - real appealing.

I feel that the biggest problem with condo living is that some homeowners do not realize that a condo association is a business and only works properly if everyone is involved and committed to protecting the investment everyone has made. I have been the treasurer of my association for the last two years and in addition to my 80 hour a week job I have to put in about 15 hours a week to manage the property because there are only four of us on the Board and we get no support from any other homeowner. The other 85% of the building consistently complain about the condo rules, which are made in the best interest for the association as a whole, yet when asked to attend a meeting and offer a suggestion for change, we get no response. My suggestion: before entering into a condo agreement, make sure you read the condo documents first and understand them completely, then be prepared to get involved in all matters concerning the association, otherwise you are looking at a difficult experience.

I have managed and been a trustee this 20 unit condo building in a wonderful neighborhood. Being either a manager or a trustee is a thankless job - when things are going well, you get no credit. When there are problems, even unexpected ones or ones over which you have no control, you get the blame. No-one wants to find a solution or put in any of their precious time, but they are quick to point out what YOU should do. My solution: I am moving to a concierge building. Yes it is still a condo, but at least there is someone watching over the building full-time. Condo ownership offers a financially reasonable way to live in the cigy, but it is a risk like anything else.

Does anyone know of a condominium that has addressed email rules in any of their documents and procedures.

Does anyone know if the Rules and Regulations of a condo association have to be recorded with the county to become effective?