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Can anyone please advise me what the ratio of unit owner verses tenants is? We are getting close to having more tenants then unit owner living in our buildings.
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Your Blogmeister responds.
We have developed a percentage based on data from the UCO Investigation requests. The number is not exact, as a few Associations do not do Investigations through the UCO program. This being said, the compiled information from 2015 - 2019 inclusive, show that:
38% of our units have been leased in the period.
Dave Israel
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Tenants can be abusive to the condo units they rent, or they can be among the most congenial, helpful people you would want in your association. However, to allow unlimited renters is to almost assure yourselves of having an insufficient board, because only owners can be on an association's board. My recommendation, and what we did when this situation began to get out of hand, was consult our attorney, and she drew up a bylaw that prohibited any NEW owner from renting his unit for three years. This is the way to go, I believe, whether you make it three years or two. I don't think you can legally set a percentage of units that are rentable, but of course your lawyer will advise you correctly on this. I don't believe either that you can impose such a restriction on someone already an owner. It took a little time, but slowly our situation turned around so that now we have several renters but not so many it jeopardizes our having enough board members. I would talk to your board right away about this and consult an attorney SOON. Remember, you need the bylaw to be voted in by your owners, and if a majority of them are landlords, you might have trouble getting a majority YES vote. By all means, explain the situation—with no rancor—to your fellow owners.
ReplyDeleteI was just rereading what I wrote and thought I would add a bit. There is a plus to having SOME renters, besides it simply being a nice thing to do for the sake of people who can only rent. Most of us were in that situation once, right?
DeleteIf we have an economic downturn as we did in 2008, owners who are snowbirds may need financial relief from paying for two residences. One solution would be to sell the Florida condo, but home values might have plunged so much, as they did in 2008, one would be taking a loss. And even if selling didn't cause one to lose money, the owner would have forfeited the condo, which he might very well have hoped to use for himself when the economy recovered.
But even worse—for the association—would be owners running away from their responsibility to pay their condo and WPRF dues, their insurance premiums and taxes, and their utility bills. Many did this during the 2008 recession, and some of our associations really suffered, because expenses continued and the remaining paying owners had to take up the slack. To make matters worse, foreclosure often was not much help to the association, because property values had sunk so low, and others had priority in the foreclosure settlement. IF THE CONDO ASSOCIATION HAD ALLOWED FOR SOME RENTERS, THIS WOULD HAVE PROVIDED A RELIEF VALVE FOR THE OWNERS AND THE ASSOCIATION. The cash-strapped owners could have rented their units, and a few years later, when the economy improved, lived in them again during the winter months. The association, meanwhile, would not have been contending with a non-paying property.
Thanks, Dave, for answering Nina's question. I went all around the mulberry bush with this and that, but never answered her question! 38 percent -- not surprising, really.
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