Move in fees?

[Mitsu3000gt]

I'm moving into my condo this weekend, and have been informed I have to pay $200 for them to hire a security guard to make sure that the door closes behind me as I move in (I'll have people with me that could easily do this). To me this seems absolutely ridiculous, that I can be trusted to let the door shut behind me every other day except the day I move in. Also, I only have 2 items that will require that I pretty much be the only person in the elevator (bed & couch), and I could use the stairs if that was an issue. Everything else is small, or can easily be brought in pieces.

I have confirmed that if later on, I decide to buy a giant bedroom set, mattress, couch, (more items than I'm moving in) etc. etc. there is no fee to move those items in, so I can't figure out what is special about my move-in day. 95% of my belongings are going to be in small boxes, no different than me bringing back some bags of groceries from the store.

I would pay the $200 if I felt that in any way I was getting something out of it, but I don't feel it is necessary to pay someone to make sure the door closes behind me on that particular day, and especially since I don't have to pay to move in multiple huge items any day after my move-in day.

What if I moved in over multiple days? I'd happily use the stairs, as well if the elevator is going to cost me $200 because I hardly have anything to bring up.

Am I being unreasonable? I'd be interested to hear some thoughts before I call the condo company. It just seems like I'd be flushing $200 down the toilet.

Thanks!

[eblend]

The chocolate condo wanted us to pay 150 to book the elevator and hang curtains, I told them I have nothing to move in and have to buy everything, and they said cool, and I didn't have to pay anything (I just used the stairs to bring my stuff in over a few days)

[Mitsu3000gt]

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah that is seeming like my best defense so far. I'm happy to move in over a few days, and I literally have so few items that I could probably do it in one day and it would just look like one of many trips if I had as much stuff as most others probably do.

I have 3 items only (couch, mattress, box spring) that would take up significant space in the elevator, and require 2 people to carry. Every single other thing I have can be disassembled to be made small, and/or easily carried by one person such thati t would be no different than me returning from the store with a package.

I put a call in to the Condo management but nobody's called me back yet. I really feel like I'd be paying for nothing, because in 10 min I'll have fully moved in any larger items.

[adidas]

Wow...what are they going to charge for next! What a bs condo board.

[ckangarloo]

Very typical. I had to pay $200 to move in to cover the cost of the management company having to hang curtains on the elevator and having to hire a security guard.
The worst thing about it was that I had to pay another $200 to move out. Oh, the joys of condo ownership!
What pissed me off the most was that tenants were moving in and out on a weekly basis and never had to pay any fees.

[Smartiepants]

I had the same thing, I called the management company and they said fine go ahead and just move, since I didn't have major furniture. There was still a fee to swap the intercom, though the $25 seemed reasonable for that.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Thanks for the replies....seems like I should probably be able to get out of it.

I get posession this Friday, at which point I'll be moving in all of my little stuff. Saturday, my "move in day", I only have a few furniture items to move in, the only large ones being my mattress, box spring, and couch. I figure it won't take much more than 10min with help to move those items up, even if I used the stairs.

My main issue with this whole thing is:

1) If I have to pay $200 for someone to make sure the door shuts behind me for 10 min

2) They have admitted that I don't have to pay if I go out later on and buy a bunch of huge stuff. If I was bringing huge items up all day long I could maybe see where they were coming from but that is hardly the case in my situation.

Anyways thanks for the replies so far.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Good news - I spoke to the condo management company and they agreed that it wasn't necessary for me to pay anything given my situation. They even said I could still use the elevator if I wanted, no problem.

[Mys73ri0]

may I ask which condo this is?

[Mitsu3000gt]

^^ PM'd