34 - Sunday, October 28, 1990 - North Shore News

LIFESTYLES

Help’s at hand

HELP'’S AT Hand, a weekly feature by North Shore
Community Services, answers questions about and
discusses such topics as government policies and
programs, benefits, consumer and legal rights, taxa-
tion and public services.

Answers published in this column are intended on-
ly as a general guide and should not be applied to
specific individual cases without further consultation.

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Question: i have been renting an apartment but
now I am thinking of buying a condominium or a
house. Can you explain some of the advantages and
disadvantages that each of these options would give
me?

Answer: Buying a condominium combines some of
the advantages of owning a home with those of ren-
ting an apartment. Similarities to owning a home in-
clude the increase in value of your property over
time, pride of ownership, the security of knowing
that you cannot be evicted by a landlord and no rent
increases (although your monthly maintenance pay-
ments can increase).

On the other hand, some of the disadvantages of
home ownership also apply to condominiums. It is,
for instance, difficult to move quickly and if you
wish to move you must suffer the expense and dif-
ficulties of selling rather than just giving notice and
leaving. You must pay for, and arrange for, all
maintenance for the interior of the unit, the appli-
ances and, possibly, any common property you have
exclusive use of, such as gardens, balconies, patios,
driveways, etc. You don’t know in advance how
rauch this maintenance will cost.

Similarities to renting an apartment include no
direct responsibilities to maintain grounds and exte-
rior of home, and possibly a degree of security from
having other units around you, depending on layout
of project. This is balanced by the possibility of
noise ad inconvenience of neighbors just on the
other side of your walls. Also, lawns, walkways,

SUITS 199°?-299°°

parking and other common areas must be shared
with others and you cannot make ch.inges to the
outside of your property.

When you are buying a condominium you must be
careful not to rely on statements made by the sales
tepresentative. Generally, if a promise made by that
sales representative or by the condominium owner is
not in writing it will be of no legal effect. For exam-
ple, if you are told that pets are allowed and the
rules of the condominium do not allow pets, then
you will be forced to follow the rules.

It is very common in B.C. for the sales repre-
sentative to complete a form called an [Interim
Agreement fer you to sign when you are making an
offer to buy a condon:inium. If the owner of the
condominium agrees to your offer, then you are
obligated to complete the purchase even if you later
find out that you are not getting what you expected.
In order to be sure that you are getting what you are
paying for, contact your lawyer before you sign any-
thing, including your offer to purchase.

In some cases condominiums are built on leased
land. If there is a lease, talk to a lawyer to be sure
you understand the implications of this.

Everyone living in a condominium must abide by
the bylaws. Therefore before you buy, be sure that
the rules are acceptable to you. You may also want
to find out what sort of people live in the project. As
every owner has a vote on the strata corporation you
would probably prefer to be with the other owners
who have a life-style similar to your own and who
would have similar needs and expectations from the
areas of common properzty.

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North Shore Community Services, a United Way
agency, is located at 1060 Roosevelt Cres., North
Vancouver, B.C. V7P 1M3, telephone 985-7138. This
column is prepared with financial assistance from the
Notary Foundation.

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