Condominium Board of Directors: What are their roles in your Condominium Corporation?
The board of directors can be defined as an elected party of volunteers tasked with the decision making for your condominium corporation. The board is usually comprised of condominium owners who ensure that all of the day-to-day tasks of the condominium are managed. These tasks can range from maintenance, finances, insurance decisions, bylaw enactment, and more. Check out below some of their responsibilities below.
Finances
There are many aspects of a condominiums finances that need to be carefully managed. Without appropriate budgeting and a keen understanding of planning for the future, condominiums can quickly find themselves in financial trouble. Here are a few of the financial considerations that the board of directors need to ensure are managed appropriately:
- Administration and collection of condominium contributions.
- Monthly bookkeeping and preparation of financial statements and reports.
- Preparation and approval of yearly financial budgets.
- Developing a healthy reserve fund to prepare for major reparations and maintenance of common property.
- Ensuring that the budget is adhered to and appropriate budgetary planning is considered when making financial decisions on behalf of condominium owners.
- Management of accounts and payment of vendors and employees.
- Tax filings for the condominium corporation
Board members can try to fulfil as many of these responsibilities in house as they can, or they may choose to hire them out to various individuals. Delegating these tasks to the appropriate party is essential to a condominium communities financial health.
Ask the Key Team for help with all of these Administrative and Bookkeeping Duties!
Maintenance
The board of directors are responsible with ensuring that the common property of the condominium is maintained. The maintenance of the common property not only ensures the retention of the properties value, but it also ensures a positive and safe living environment for the occupants.
Common property is defined as any part of the property that is jointly owned and outside of the individual units. This can be everything from hallways, foyers and elevators to parking lots and sidewalks. The board can choose to hire maintenance personal, outsource these needs to a vendor, or hire a property management company that meets these needs. Regardless of the means, the board is responsible to make the decisions and conduct oversight on all of the maintenance needs of the condominiums common property.
Bylaw Enactment
Bylaws are created at the development phase of the condominium corporation. The bylaws dictate the responsibilities of the owners and board members, as well as outline how a condominium is to be structured and run. Every condominium’s bylaws are different. While one condominium may dictate that sidewalk clearing is the responsibility of the corporation, another may dictate that it is the responsibility of the individual owners. There are many aspects of condominium bylaws, for more information visit Condo Law Alberta.
Ensuring that bylaws are properly adhered to is an important step to ensure the health and amicability of the condominium property. This also largely falls on the shoulders of the board members. If this becomes difficult, often times the boards will delegate those responsibilities to a third party property management company.
Day-To-Day Function of Condominium
A Condominium Corporation is literally a business, there are a lot of decisions and responsibilities that go into the day-to-day function of the condominium community. Legalities, emergencies, financial needs, and many more circumstances can come up on a daily basis and it is the responsibility of the condominium board to ensure that all of these needs are promptly and adequately met.