Bella Vista - Special Assessment

[Jry_79]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Sh...566/story.html

Don't know how many condo owners are on the board, I for one own a condo and always cringe when these kind of news are reported on the media. It's one of the main reasons I'm looking to purchase a house in the next couple years.

Anyways just wanted to read everyone's comments regarding this issue.

First and foremost I have my own personal condo insurance which has a value of $200,000 (Meloche Monnex) for any special assessment, have to look into this further. Based on the story it seems some owners may not have this insurance, I'm wondering why not? it's not that expensive when you look at the bigger picture.

Your thoughts?

[npham]

I love the part about how regular maintenance would have prevented this type of damage. That's brutal. They need to be suing for more though.

[dimi]

Originally posted by npham
I love the part about how regular maintenance would have prevented this type of damage. That's brutal. They need to be suing for more though.

Well if you were the project developer you would say the same thing, no?

[Jry_79]

The story mentions the city should be sued, as someone that personally knows someone that use to work in the building permit department within city hall...don't want to say very much but I can say the person I knew mentioned that the department is like a fast food drive thru....no seriousness in quality at all.
Furthermore while that person was employed with the city, there was one building inspector that had to take a leave of absence (fully paid stress leave) due to them fuking up a good amount of homes on a city block, I'll try to find out which block as this was also on the news years ago

[lilmira]

All the owners are royally f$%ked. Litigation will take forever and you are still f#$ked at the end even if you do win.

Government is useless at this moment. We need to expose subpar builders. Don't give them any business.

[Modelexis]

A month or so ago, one of these condos was for sale on kijiji I remember coming across, sucks for these poor owners.

http://calgary.kijiji.ca/c-real-esta...AdIdZ271210151

$200,000

Maybe a lot cheaper now?

lol

[interlude]

Originally posted by Jry_79
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Sh...566/story.html

Don't know how many condo owners are on the board, I for one own a condo and always cringe when these kind of news are reported on the media. It's one of the main reasons I'm looking to purchase a house in the next couple years.

Anyways just wanted to read everyone's comments regarding this issue.

First and foremost I have my own personal condo insurance which has a value of $200,000 (Meloche Monnex) for any special assessment, have to look into this further. Based on the story it seems some owners may not have this insurance, I'm wondering why not? it's not that expensive when you look at the bigger picture.

Your thoughts?

thanks for the heads up, I am going to call TD about the special assessment insurance. This is total BS.. I really feel bad to those affected.

[Masked Bandit]

The special assessment coverage that comes on condo policies DOES NOT cover maintenance / building problems like this. It is for insurance related events that the condo board is either under insured or not insured at all.

You can't buy coverage for stuff like this. I truly feel for these people. I'm surprised there hasn't been a "fire" that wiped the building out.

[Jry_79]

Originally posted by Masked Bandit
The special assessment coverage that comes on condo policies DOES NOT cover maintenance / building problems like this. It is for insurance related events that the condo board is either under insured or not insured at all.

You can't buy coverage for stuff like this. I truly feel for these people. I'm surprised there hasn't been a "fire" that wiped the building out.

Damn, I'll call TD Meloche to clarify....note to self talk to someone at a higher level instead of the typical customer service rep. Anyways my bad for assuming.

[dexlargo]

Originally posted by Jry_79
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Sh...566/story.htmlI have my own personal condo insurance which has a value of $200,000 (Meloche Monnex) for any special assessment, have to look into this further. Based on the story it seems some owners may not have this insurance, I'm wondering why not? it's not that expensive when you look at the bigger picture.

Your thoughts?

People probably don't have it because they either:

1 - Are cheap and don't have insurance at all
2 - Weren't aware of the availability of special assessment insurance and didn't request it. (I own a condo and wasn't aware you could get it, but I believe you - I should check to see if I have this coverage).
3 - Were told about the coverage when they got their contents insurance and decided not to take it because they're cheap.

That said, insurance companies can be bastards. They sometimes word their coverage clauses so that you say, "wow, look at all the things this clause covers! Fire, lightning, airplane crashes, and so much more!", but they leave out or exclude important things that they know are likely to cost them a lot of money if they came to pass. So maybe these people thought they had coverage, but their insurers denied coverage.

ETA: Ha, takes me too long to type. thanks Masked Bandit - I was pretty sure I hadn't ever heard of such a thing and I used to work for an insurer (mainly a commercial insurer, but had some residential as well).

[Jry_79]

Originally posted by Masked Bandit
The special assessment coverage that comes on condo policies DOES NOT cover maintenance / building problems like this. It is for insurance related events that the condo board is either under insured or not insured at all.

You can't buy coverage for stuff like this. I truly feel for these people. I'm surprised there hasn't been a "fire" that wiped the building out.

Just got off the phone with Meloche Monnex, your right exclusion to Faulty Material or Poor Workmanship in which the condo will have to request a special assessement from all units IS NOT COVERED amongst other additional exclusions

At the end of the day I basically was told that the special assessment for $200K was to cover if there was a fire, hail or even vandalism in which a special assessment is required.........but I know for sure the condo fees I pay for already covers the fire for sure.....At the end of the day I requested the documentation regarding the policy to be mailed to me as I may be double dipping on insurance....

Oh well back to square one...only thing I can rely on is that it was built early 90's way before the boom seems like these huge special assessments are mainly for the condo's built near and around boom time (I can be wrong tho).....time to save for a house...another lesson learnt....insurance covers only one thing, themselves.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I have a friend who works for Meloche Monnex, he told me he's never seen them pay out a penny towards a "special assessment". It can only cover the difference between the condo's insurance and what you owe. There is always a way around it for them.

If you get special assessed, you pay it.

I can't imagine how awful it would feel to be resident of that building.

[guessboi]

Yup Faulty Material or Poor Workmanship is not covered under special assessment.

For all of you out there...always check your policy wordings! or ask questions to your broker / Call centre.

[Masked Bandit]

Originally posted by Jry_79


Just got off the phone with Meloche Monnex, your right exclusion to Faulty Material or Poor Workmanship in which the condo will have to request a special assessement from all units IS NOT COVERED amongst other additional exclusions

At the end of the day I basically was told that the special assessment for $200K was to cover if there was a fire, hail or even vandalism in which a special assessment is required.........but I know for sure the condo fees I pay for already covers the fire for sure.....At the end of the day I requested the documentation regarding the policy to be mailed to me as I may be double dipping on insurance....

You're not getting double dipped. The condo board insures the building and you have to insure your stuff inside. Things like that "special assessment" coverage are thrown in for free because the insurance companies know that the actual chances of that coverage coming into play and paying out are virtually zip.

It's pretty much the same thing as you having coverage for losing an arm due to a flock of a 1000 eagles attacking you.

[codetrap]

Wouldn't title insurance have covered this sort of thing?

[Masked Bandit]

Originally posted by codetrap
Wouldn't title insurance have covered this sort of thing?

I don't think so. Title is not in question here.

[yobi5888]

So is there any type of insurance would cover this sort of thing?

[whiskas]

Originally posted by yobi5888
So is there any type of insurance would cover this sort of thing?

The only thing that could protect you from something like this is knowing not to buy into a building constructed during the boom. Sure they may have had respectable engineers and architects design the building. But when it's being put together by high school dropouts hired based on the merit of being able to swing a hammer, the quality will go to shit.

Don't buy condo's built 2003-2009.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by Masked Bandit


I don't think so. Title is not in question here.

I was talking to my wife about this, (Real Estate ParaLegal) and she said that defects in construction *might* be covered under title insurance.

http://edmontonrealestateblog.com/20...t-help-me.html

It also covers internal non-compliance issues that would never be shown on a Real Property Report such as lack of building permits or failure to meet building code on renovations such as a basement development.

Another site.. http://membersavings.ca/insurance/in...-coverage.html

Title insurance provides protection against issues like survey defects, unpaid liens, encroachment issues, construction liens, defects in title, costs arising from building code violations, as well as real estate title fraud

[Masked Bandit]

I don't think the title insurance would come into play because it's fact that when the property was build the developer had all the right permits & such.