Mark,

By means of background, I'm the current president of the association for the building I live (and own) in. I would suggest you contact your association board members or management company and get a set of the most recent audited financial statements (I'm hoping but not assuming you'd done so prior to buying) as well as a copy of the current year budget, and if available, the budget to actual comparisons.

This type of increase should have been incorporated and planned for as part of the annual budget and should have been communicated to owners with sufficient notice. Hopefully this was done, but being a new owner, you may not have received this information. Unfortunately, this is also part of the due diligence that should have been done so that you could consider it prior to buying--sounds like you and, if applicable, your agent, didn't check on this. Common problem enough I'd guess--I ran into it myself, but fortunately had an idea of the issues that were giving rise to increases that were being required.

First step though--get a copy of the budget for the year as well as any communications from either the Board or the management company. You can also check the Association by-laws to see if the increases are within the Board's/management company's mandate-if they are allowed or otherwise limited in some way (e.g. a % annual increase). You'll need to do a little homework after the fact, but it'll also better prepare you for any questions that arise in the future regarding these matters.

As an fyi, my building actually did increase the maintenance to be able to build up reserves to meet future maintenance needs.

Mark,

As an owner of a unit the building, you should be able to request a copy of the budget and expenses to see exactly where the money is going. Some management companies send out monthly reports on the cash flow and expenses. You may want to look into that with the management company and other owners.

From the cost of the $380 fee, it sounds like the building may be raising money to pay off the roof expense or collecting funds to build up a reserve account.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Walter J. Burns
Realtor-Associate
Weichert Realtors
1 Newark St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030
201-653-8488 Ext: 230
201-694-8946 Mobile
201-653-4154 Fax
walterburns@gmail.com http://www.livingonthehudson.com