Most condo buyers carry a simple mental model: everything outside my walls is the corporation’s problem. At Applejack, that model will cost you money.
One of the phases - Phase 3, on Alfred Street - publishes a table splitting every repair, item by item, between the corporation and the owner. I have read it, and it is the single most useful practical document in any package I hold. What follows is that table in plain English. Read the caveat at the end before you apply any of it to your own unit.
The inside/outside rule
The glass items follow a principle you can actually remember: broken from outside, corporation. Broken from inside, owner. A window smashed by a stray branch is the corporation’s; the one your moving crew cracked is yours. Failed thermal seals, rotten frames, leaking windows and sashes that will not open - corporation. Hardware, screens, weatherstripping and exterior cleaning - owner.
Then the curveball: a leaking skylight is the owner’s problem, even though a leaking window is the corporation’s. Nobody guesses that one.
The splits nobody expects
Two big-ticket items are not one side’s or the other’s - they are shared: complete window replacement and complete sliding door replacement are cost-shared between corporation and owner. Most buyers assume windows are entirely the corporation’s. Here, they are not.
Where the money hides: the owner’s list
The expensive surprises sit on the owner’s side of Phase 3’s line:
- All heating and ventilation equipment, hot water tanks, water softeners
- Electrical panels, wiring, fixtures and switches, plus dryer exhaust ducting
- All plumbing fixtures, clogged drains, and water lines out to the street shut-off
- Structural repairs to the chimney chase, interior fireplaces and inserts
- Air conditioners and appliances
- Contents and finishes insurance - the corporation insures the buildings, not your kitchen
If you are budgeting ownership, this list belongs in the monthly-cost picture, because a furnace or a hot water tank is your bill here, not the corporation’s.
Water damage is decided by the source
Roof leak - corporation. A leaking pipe or fixture inside the unit, or a frozen burst pipe - owner. Water damage is the most common expensive dispute in any condominium, and the logic here is consistent: trace the water to its source, and that is whose problem it is.
The raccoon clause
Pest responsibility is split by species, and I promise I am not making this up: bees, hornets and raccoons in the attic are the corporation’s problem. Mice in your unit, and ants, are yours. It is oddly charming, and it tells you these tables are written from decades of actual events.
Grounds, decks and the trap in “improvements”
Lawns, trees, flower beds, asphalt, entrance pads, deck refurbishment - corporation. But the moment an owner changes something - enlarges a deck, replaces a patio, adds plantings - the changed element becomes the owner’s responsibility, permanently, and needs corporation approval first. Forty years of owners personalizing decks and gardens means plenty of Applejack units carry exactly this kind of obligation. It often travels through a section 98 agreement, which is worth understanding before you buy - it is on the buying checklist.
The caveat that is really the whole point
Everything above is one phase’s table. The other phases have their own, I do not yet hold them, and the splits can differ. So treat all of it as a preview of the kind of thing the documents say - and when it is your unit on the line, the table that counts is the one in your own phase’s current status certificate.
Brad Macdonald, Broker
The MAC Team · REMAX All-Stars Realty Inc. Brokerage