With rising
foreclosures in many condo communities, associations and unit owners
facing higher fees continue to look for ways to cut costs.
Currently, a looming topic has been service providers. In order to
receive cable or security system services, condo associations must sign
multiyear "bulk" contracts, where individual owners cannot
order their own service.
That also means that if an owner moves out, services are still provided
to the unit and other residents are stuck paying the bill. Jan
Bergemann, founder and president of Cyber Citizens for Justice, a condo
and homeowners association advocate Web site, said the key is allowing
the unit owner to choose his or her own providers.
"The bulk contracts make unit owners have no say because the
association [gets to] pick [the providers]," he said. "We've
had a lot of comments about how to get out of these bulk contracts and
the other tenants [being] stuck paying for empty or foreclosed
units."
Bergemann also said he recently
spoke with a Miami-Dade County condo board member who said 30 percent of
his unit owners are no longer paying dues.
"The economy is down and board members say they are broke because
owners are paying their dues," he said. "The contracts come
back to haunt them because [now] there is no money."
"It's been brutal because of the economy," said Charlotte
Greenbarg, president of the Broward Coalition, a nonprofit organization
that helps condo and homeowners associations.
At a Broward Coalition meeting last week, Leo Delgado, the chief
marketing officer for CSI Associates, a group that consults with
homeowners association and service providers, said associations
sometimes need help to get a good deal.
"[Board members] need to review the current agreement, which could
be 20 years old, to see what their rights are, where they stand and
what's the best course of action," Delgado said.
Individual hook ups are possible, Delgado said, but cable companies want
the marketing and don't want to "keep disconnecting and
reconnecting" at the condo communities.
"Big money needs good experience and a lot of the problems are
caused by the inexperience of the boards members," Bergemann said.
"The service providers are only too happy [to take advantage]
because they go all the way to the bank."