BristolUK

Was she watching the footie?

Bournemouth. Lovely place. Bifocal shop windows.

caretaker

Yes, actually. She remarked that Bristol may have an EPL team some day. It only came up because I mentioned that one of my friends is an avid Rovers supporter.

scrubbedexpat091

The owners in the building we live in knew when they bought either pre-sale or after that 20% of the units are dedicated rentals, and owned by the developer, and that the retail spaces as well as the public parking of the garage also owned by the developer. It was not a surprise.

But oh the strata people do nothing but complain about it and how the legalities of the building is set up. If you don't like the way its structured dont buy in this sort of building.

BristolUK

I hope not. It would never be Rovers so it could only be City. When they made it to the top tier last time it was fun to go to games and stand with the away fans supporting them. With some success.

If it happened again I'd be denied that pleasure.

scrubbedexpat091

I often wonder if owning a condo is actually less maintenance cost vs a reasonably sized house.

Say in our building, the annual strata fees are $550 a month (550*12 = $6,600)

Does a house cost $6,600 a year in maintenance typically?

The fee is in addition to a mortgage if any exist, a 1 bed unit in this building sells in the 630k-650k range from looking at the most recent ones that sold.

Vulcanoid

In a typical year it wouldn't - any given year would depend what goes wrong (boiler, roof, water, electrics, etc). Never having owned one my understanding is that the amortized cost should be less than that.

A 2013 study said downtown Vancouver strata fee average was $0.4/square foot, so that's either a very large property, or an unusually expensive fee (or if not unusually expensive, then a dramatic inflation). $550/$0.4 is 1,375 square feet, which is nearly twice the size of the average new build house in the UK, at 818 square feet, which is also close to the average size of a new build condo in Vancouver at 840)

Zoe Bell

our condo fees also include utilities, so you need to factor that in

scrubbedexpat091

What kind of utilities?

Here electricity, and heat is (in every building I have ever lived in) is up to the person living in the unit, strata's don't cover such things.

Trash is included though.

Jerseygirl

Electric/gas/water/trash. Most condos in the city include utilities...apart from those built 10/15 years ago.

scrubbedexpat091

The strata here covers water and trash but not electricity or heat. (heating is electric so just part of the electric use one has.)

Siouxie

I think Condo fees and strata fees and utility fees depend on where the property is and who it's owned by! No two are necessarily the same..

scrubbedexpat091

And regional standards...

If I recall someone said once electric is often included in rent in ON, where in BC its the norm for it not to be included, in older apartments with hot water heating heat will be included, but in newer buildings its electric baseboard and tenants generally pay for electricity not the landlord or in the case of condos the strata.

Really the only time I see electric included is in basement suites where its just one meter for the entire house, usually not legal suites...

Siouxie

I've never had electric included in rent in Ontario, just heat and hot water... paying extra for electricity, cable, internet and phone... that was apartment blocks not condo's though - I couldn't afford to rent a condo when I first came to Canada. Occasionally you do see an 'all inclusive' rental but as you mentioned, it tends to be in unregistered, unregulated and sometimes unsavoury premises. I was offered one - a basement suite that was 'all inclusive' (although you had no control over the heating or air conditioning of course, so you might roast or freeze, depending on the landlord or other tenants whim) but decided against it as it was all a bit dodgy.

scrubbedexpat091

I wont rent a basement suite unless it has its own electric meter, thermostat and the like, I dont want someone upstairs controlling the temperature based on their comfort level...lol

Biggest problem with renting is having 21,000/yr poof with nothing to really show for it at the end.

I do wish they put a/c standard in condos/apartments here, at least low rise. Not sure if high rise buildings have a/c, we have only ever lived in low rise 6 floors or less and none have ever had a/c.

Summer's get a bit too warm for my liking so we use a portable unit in the living room, but its a pain in the rear end and takes up space but its the only option to stay cool in summer.

I had an interview for this morning, got ready, went down to the car as we are borrowing it from mother in law, and well garage door is broken yet again, oh joy & transit would not get me there on time, called but they can't reschedule for a later time today, bummer.

Danny B

Shit, that's annoying. Why didn't you call a taxi?