[RP TownTalk] condos can be tricky

[Nancy]

As the development proposal at Dumm's corner moves forward, I would like to
share some of my experiences with condos. For several years, I worked in
rapidly growing Stafford County, VA. While I was there, we saw a lot of
goofy stuff related to condos and homeowners' associations. A caveat: land
use regulation and development standards are quite different in Maryland and
Virginia, so I will leave it to others to judge how much of the following is
relevant or helpful.
 
Condominium ownership means that one entity owns the dwelling unit and
another entity owns the land, probably in its entirety. The landowner is
usually responsible for maintenance and upkeep. The developer may retain
ownership of the land or sell it to somebody else, or it may turn it over to
the owners' association. I saw several instances where a developer would
make a commitment (during the approval process) to maintain the property to
some standard, subject to the agreement or subject to overrule by the
owners' assocation. Where it gets tricky is that the developer might not
establish or give authority to an owners' association until some percentage
of units have been sold. And if the developer decided to hold on to some
number of units rather than sell them, then an owners' association might
never get formed and the developer de facto would keep control over whatever
provisions were established. This can be problematic for the owners and for
the community.
 
The other implication of the developer hanging on to some number of units is
that as the owner, they could rent the property. (I think somebody on this
thread said that the developer would not rule that out.) 
 
And, of course, there would be nothing to stop any individual or other
entity from buying one or more units as rental property. 
 
Nancy
Riverdale Road
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