Condo Association Management Blog

Massachusetts condo association has freeloading owners

I'm one of three trustees for a 6 unit condo building. Because of the small number of units, our condo fees tend to be higher than average, but our building is also somewhat unique so units tend to turn over quickly. Like most other places in the northeast, we went over budget with snow related expenses this past winter. In developing a budget for the current year we knew that we needed to make up that budget shortfall to keep our reserve build-up on schedule, but we also tried to be sensitive to owner concerns that our condo fees are already high enough to turn off some buyers. We presented a budget that minimized the fee increase by removing some items that we typically hire out, but with the condition that the owners would need to help out with the chores that were de-funded. In the budget package, we informed everyone that the trustees themselves would vote against the budget approval unless every unit agreed to participation in chores. The trustees are typically the only owners that donate time for chores chores, but we're unanimous in feeling that we will not be the sole providers of labor to provide everyone with a break on condo fees. (The combined ownership of the trustees is more than the simple majority needed to approve a budget.) By the time of our annual meeting and budget vote, we had only received a single, very minor offer to help with chores and only the trustees showed up for the annual meeting. The trustees followed through and rejected the budget proposal. Since then we've made good progress with 2 of the non-trustee owners and they've agreed to assume enough responsibility for the trustees to drop their objection to the original budget. The final unit is another story. While the owner of that unit has agreed in principle to participate, they've ignored all of our efforts to obtain a specific commitment. We had originally informed everyone that if we could not get 100% agreement on chores, that we'd submit a revised budget that included enough of an increase in fees to be able to hire and pay the individuals who have volunteered. The idea was that on a net basis, those who participate in chores would only see a fee increase similar to that in the original budget, but those who do not would see a much larger increase. Now we're wondering if Mass law would even allow for that kind of arrangement and if we're just stuck with the freeloaders getting off scott free. Can you think of any other way to handle this?