pleasantview condo assocation

[bertine]

So, I own a condo. It is in this old apartment building and I love it because I have done a ton of work on it and I am allowed to do whatever I want to inside of it.

However, there are certain issue having to do with living under the rule of a condo association. First is the notes. You get notes about everything. About making a mess, about leaving the balcony doors open, about putting paper bags in the mixed recycling. I am actually not sure why they think anyone reads these notes, I have start just ignoring them since there is a new one every other day.

Another issue is that the heat is out of your control. Say it is 60 degrees outside and you have all your windows open to take advantage of this fact and then you notice that the radiators are on. The next day there is a note on the back door about "drafts causing the thermostat to go crazy". Also, to turn off the water to one unit, the whole building has to have the water turned off. This happens about twice a week lately. It is a good thing I have a Y membership so I can always just go there and take a shower in the morning.

While these are all annoying aspects of owning my condo, I, for the most part, ignore them. I have lived there for almost 6 years now, after awhile you just go with it. However, this Sunday we have a meeting to vote on some changes to the bylaws. There are two changes that someone wants to make and I don't really agree with either of them. First, they want to remove the ability to lease your unit. While I can sort of support this, I understand that 10 to 15 years ago there were a lot of problems with people leasing them to drug dealers they already made some changes to the bylaws that said the board must approve of any one that is leasing a unit. I think this is a good enough way to control leasing and there have been no problems in the whole time I have lived there.

The second change is changing the rules concerning pets. Right now the bylaws say that you can't have any animals over 40 pounds living with you. I think this is a good limit. However, in the papers I just received about the bylaw changes, they want to restrict it to just house cats. It actually says any animal except house cats. Then they go on to say "Animal should be interpreted in the broadest sense to included any living beings except humans". Even if I wasn't opposed to this because I might one day want to get some sea monkeys, it has to be some of the most awkward language ever.

Now, this is an all or nothing change. To vote in the bit about no leasing you have to say no to goldfish, iguanas, and hedgehogs. I know why this is happening, it has to do with a whole group of people in the building not liking the way a couple people live their lives. They want them out of the building and they are willing to put these restrictions in just to get rid of them. Personally I want the option of having an ant farm someday.

(yeah, this is also on bertine.org)

Comments

[f-o-n-y.livejournal.com]

this is all sounding kinda soviet-union-circa-1975 to me. good thing you don't have to stand in line for bread at the supermarket.

[bertine.livejournal.com]

i think it is the same type of people. too many of them live off of money from the government in one way or the other and don't ever really do anything outside of the building.

[sharya.livejournal.com]

We're having similar problems in our condo, although not to that extreme.

If the people vote to get rid of animals, the people who have the animals can actually make a huge complaint, and can probably win, because the conditions under which they bought their condo were with certain understandings. Typically when changes such as this are made, current residents are grandfathered in. The association might not have a legal leg to stand on.

[bertine.livejournal.com]

well, the current residents would be grandfathered in, i am just opposed to the idea that no resident would be able to ever get anything other than a house cat. i also resent that this wasn't put in any of the meeting notes from the condo meetings. I haven't been able to go to any of the meetings because until I quit menards, i couldn't go to the sunday afternoon meetings.

i don't really like most of the board, this year we seem to have gotten all the people in the building that i dislike at once. i guess i am going to have to get back on the board next year.

[lexir0x.livejournal.com]

fuck them. vote no on both. they're ridiculous rules and they promote an exclusionist culture that is backed too easily by americans today.

do i sound like a radio talk show host yet?

i just really oppose the thought that the property that you OWN, is something you don't really OWN. you can't do what you want with it? what's the point of OWNING it then?

it just freaks me out. like neighborhood associations that can choose what color you paint your house, or what decorations you can have on your lawn? WTF is that about?

[bertine.livejournal.com]

i plan on voting no on both, i am planning on telling them all that too.

like i said, i can understand the motivation behind these rules, no leasing means you are less likely to get criminals in the building. owner occupied places are better taken care of too. animals can be annoying to some people.

however, i agree with you more, they are on crack if they think i want to own a condo in a place that i can't lease to someone if that comes up or i can't get a bloody goldfish if i want one. Anything that happens inside of my unit, is my business and not the condo assocations. i wouldn't put up with the city deciding that, i don't want it from my neighbors that i never see.

well, those associations are the same thing as this, they wrote them in their bylaws and when you purchased a place you agreed to them. sort of like the fact that i can't have a garbage disposal because it is in the bylaws. i understand that, those pipes so are old it would could be really bad.

i really hope this doesn't pass, with them needing 67% of the vote (i have 3.6%) i don't really think it will pass. i have to go talk to people tonight. i think i am going to leave work early.

[jayp39.livejournal.com]

This is why, when I was searching for a house, I excluded anything with an "association" tied to it.

[bertine.livejournal.com]

yeah, yeah, yeah

i was young. it was 16500 so i figured it was a good deal.

i am so angry right now because i should have been involved. i trusted them and they did a crappy job and now i have to be the 11th hour wrecker

[heidi-13.livejournal.com]

good luck with your new campaign!
I think this is extremely harsh and invasive.
I hope you give em hell!