[CCI Admin]

Here is Yellowbird Court’s By-Law We are townhouse condos.

An owner or Occupant may keep and use a barbeque or other similar cooking or heating device in his Exclusive Use Area, or such other area as may be authorized in writing by the Board subject to the following:

1.

Gilda V on August 10 2018 at 05:15 PM

[CCI Admin]

Propane barbeques are permitted on level one only. (ground level). Natural gas or electric barbeques are permitted on level one as well. For all other levels, only natural gas or electric barbeques are permitted. Propane is not allowed to be transported in the Building.

Ricky H on August 07 2018 at 07:37 AM

[CCI Admin]

We vote the Directors to do their job on our behalf. If they do not properly vet the candidates for a position as property managers they should be fired or asked to remove themselves from their position, at a Special
General Meeting requested by the owners, as per Section 30.1 of the Condominium Property Act. It is understandable that some my not know what they are doing, but that should not stop them from taking measures to learn and recognize that they should keep the residents as their first priority, rather than the property manager.

Ron K on September 10 2018 at 12:02 PM

[CCI Admin]

This practice is becoming somewhat of an industry norm, which I feel needs to be stopped immediately! Condominium Management companies are paid to facilitate and coordinate projects. Taking advantage of the situation is not ethical nor is it right! What’s next, an extra payment bonus is if someone gets a specific job? Anyone that defends this type of activity is criminal and should be treated as such. This is like adding administration fees to special assessments, lets tax the ones already going through hardships. If a Condominium Management company is not willing to do AB and C then they should move onto another industry. Stealing from the average Condominium Owner increases prices for work. At the end of the day the client is paying. There should not be any costs to bring contractors to the table. The contractors that are paying these fees should be questioned as well…………………..

Curtis S on September 10 2018 at 08:59 AM

[CCI Admin]

I think it is a very reprehesive practise and if I found out our Property Manager was doing this, I would do my best to end their contract with our complex.

Anne A on September 08 2018 at 04:39 PM

[CCI Admin]

Unfortunately it’s a shady industry with little regulation. It seems out of character for an NDP government to take such a long time to move forward with protecting the little guys–condo owners.

Donna S on August 09 2018 at 07:08 AM

[CCI Admin]

Disgraceful practice by any professional.

Brett B on August 08 2018 at 08:11 PM

[CCI Admin]

If a contractor is quoting work to be done in your complex and having to pay a fee to your Property Manager (who you are already paying a monthly fee to as well as any other charges they tack on to their monthly bill) you can bet your sweet life that the fee is going to be included in the price your are quoted. So any way you look at it, it is the Condo Association that in a round about way ends up paying this “preferred contractor” fee to the Property Manager. It is a corrupt practice and should be against the law.

Ruth G on August 08 2018 at 07:50 PM

[CCI Admin]

Sorry to say this is becoming more and more common and the owners are paying for this. There are a group of condo boards in Calgary filing a class action against the management company for doing this. Read your contracts, many disclose this but board don’t read their contracts or get legal assistance in understanding these contracts. At Condo Check we provide a service to assist boards in selecting their management company and find that boards who understand this is in the contract are not selecting those companies. Read the fine print and that includes the additional charges sections of the contracts before you engage a management company. Those contracts are binding. Cheers! Bernie

Bernice W on August 08 2018 at 03:59 PM

[CCI Admin]

The practice of preferred vendors is something that is common in the Insurance Industry. However, there are NO kickbacks to the insurer to be on that list. The insurers do that so that they can ensure that the vendors they recommend are competent, competitive and have solid business practices. Personally, I would not be in favor of any kickbacks to the property manager.

Selecting the right property manager is a difficult job at the best of times. I own several condo units and have served on boards as well. Having read many property management contracts, I find that you really need to check not only the monthly fee but what other fees are for additional services. The property manager we uses does NOT accept kickbacks. The do have a number of contractors they recommend but only because those contractors have proven themselves to be worthy!

Heather C on August 08 2018 at 10:46 AM

[CCI Admin]

Bottom line is, the condo corporation pays for all the “considerations”

Gerrit R on August 08 2018 at 09:21 AM

[CCI Admin]

Will be glad when RECA requires all Property Managers have to be licensed so we can report these kind of issues and hopefully the Property Manager will be chastised for such unethical business practices.

Anne A on August 08 2018 at 09:17 AM

[CCI Admin]

Yes, very unethical. MY property manager does this. First they have the contractor sign up for what they call their preferred vendors list.This costs about 300.00 per year then the contractor has to PAY my property management company 5% of whatever they bill us. They tell the contractor that they have to pay this if they want any more work at this complex. THIS IS EXTORTION AS DEFINED IN THE DICTIONARY.
I tell my contractors NOT TO SIGN UP and DO NOT PAY. We , the board hire our own contractors and my management company has approached long time contractors with this proposal. We have a clause in our Management Agreement that says the PM is not allowed to take or receive any monies etc so the PM has set up a different company within their organization to receive their kickbacks .

Barbara P on August 08 2018 at 07:47 AM

[CCI Admin]

I think this is a very poor practise on the part of any property manager to want kickbacks for awarding contracts. This puts the Board in a very bad position. The Board and the Property Manager should be requesting 3 quotes for jobs and there should be no kickbacks for either. I personally think you should be looking for a new property manager if this is there way of doing business. There are lots of contractors out there that will give you a quote and are happy to do the work your require. My personal thoughts are if you used an engineering firm to write the specifications for your work (on large projects) they would tender the contract and give you a list of the bids and you could choose. There are no kickbacks involved then.

Anne A on August 07 2018 at 10:20 PM

[CCI Admin]

Very unethical business practice as there is no way of truly knowing what amount of “kickback” so to speak is being received by the management company. Since the property management company works on behalf of the condo board it would be no different than a main contractor hired by their customer/client to find the right trades to do the scope of work required and adding 15-20% which is a fairly standard contractor( management company) mark up to supervise the work to be done. Therefore the condo association should be paying the mark up to the management company.

Mike B on August 07 2018 at 05:00 PM

[Author]

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