Photo: credit to the owner

What are condo fees and what do they cover? That’s what we are talking about today.
Condos are the choice of home for many first-time buyers, down-sizers and anyone who is seeking affordability and livability.           
Condo fees are a topic of much interest and can cause some confusion when buying a pre-construction condo.

Every new condo building that goes up for sale has these monthly maintenance charges included in its price list and it is the cost per square foot - usually in cents per square foot - for condo towers or dollar value for say a townhouse or a semi-detached house.

Expenses Covered by Condo Fees
You can consider condo fees as an additional cost of owning a condo apartment or condo townhouse. It’s a maintenance cost which covers the cost of operation and maintenance of the building. This includes common areas such as hallways and amenities.
It also covers building insurance, staff wages, and other expenses.



For a condo townhome, this fee includes the cost of maintaining all areas that lie outside the boundary of your home. For example, parks, landscaping or snow removal from pathways.

Owning a condo unit always involves maintenance fees that are above and beyond the purchase price. These fees are paid monthly by the owners of every unit and are calculated as:

Unit area X cost per square foot
So, if your condo suite is 600 square feet and cost per square foot is 50 cents then your monthly fees will be (600 x 50¢ = ) $300. If your unit has a balcony then the area of balcony is excluded from the calculation.
 
I will give you more information on this topic in my next blog. For more information, contact me at (647) 834-9928 or send me an email to [email protected].