Condo Move-In Fees and Document Costs in Edmonton

What Alberta does cap: the documents

The condominium documents are a different matter. Alberta’s Condominium Property Regulation sets both what a corporation may charge and how long it may take. A request from an owner, a buyer, a mortgagee or someone authorised in writing has to be answered within 10 days.

Rush fees apply only where the corporation’s bylaws allow them. Source: Alberta Condominium Property Regulation.

The estoppel certificate is the short one that matters on closing day: it states the condo fee for that unit, when it is payable, and whether the seller owes anything. Your lawyer relies on it, and a corporation that misses the 10-day deadline can delay a closing.

Who orders what, and who pays

In a normal Edmonton deal the seller provides the documents for review during the buyer’s condition period, and the buyer’s lawyer orders the estoppel certificate before closing. Who pays is a term of the contract, not a rule, so it is worth settling in the offer rather than discovering it later.

Budget a few hundred dollars in total, and add the rush fee if your condition period is short. The one thing not to do is skip the documents to save $200 on a purchase of a quarter of a million dollars.

What the documents are actually worth reading for

The point of the package is not the fee. It is what the fee is doing, and what the building is about to ask you for:

• The reserve fund study and plan. What the building needs to replace, when, and whether the money is there. A low fee and a thin reserve is a special assessment in waiting.
• The budget and the last financial statements. Where the fee goes and whether it has kept up with insurance and utilities.
• Board minutes, usually a year of them. Leaks, litigation, elevator and envelope problems show up here first.
• The insurance certificate. Specifically the deductible: a unit owner can be charged for it, and water deductibles have climbed.
• The bylaws. Pets, rentals, smoking, parking, and the move-in fee itself all live here.

Condo fees in Edmonton goes further on judging the fee itself, and pet-friendly condos covers the bylaw that catches the most buyers out.

The costs that come after the documents

The move-in fee is a one-off. The condo fee is not, and neither are the two costs that follow it: a special assessment when the reserve cannot cover a repair, and the insurance deductible when a claim starts inside your unit. Ask for the last three years of fee increases and any assessment levied or discussed — the minutes will tell you even when the seller does not.

Every building Real Living tracks has its own page with what is for sale, what has sold, and the fees on today’s listings: Edmonton condo buildings.

Before you sign

Ask five questions and you will have covered most of it. What is the move-in fee, and is it refundable? What do the documents cost and who is paying? When was the reserve fund study done, and what does it say about the next five years? Has there been a special assessment in the last three years, or a discussion of one? And what is the insurance deductible on a water claim?

The rest of the closing bill is the same as any Edmonton purchase: closing costs when buying a house in Alberta sets out the Land Titles fees, the lawyer’s bill and the adjustments.