what does the Maintenance fee go towards

The overall maintenance of the building ... upkeep of the roof, exterior walls, common areas, boiler, etc. as well as any underlying mortgage on the building and staff salaries.

One of the reasons I like renting...

Well, ownership isn't for everyone.

Don't tar all condos or coops with the same brush. Many buildings do help with routine maintenance issues.

sfo, your building is completely condo. It's just that the sponsor owns half the units and is renting them out.

For jobs that're an owner's responsibility, like futzing with toilets, the building should be charging the cost back to the owner. That goes whether the owner is an individual like you or the sponsor.

Otherwise all the owners are carrying the handyman's expense for the sponsor's units.

It's tough to implement that policy in a condo like yours where the sponsor is both managing agent and has defacto control of the board.

nwt, you nailed it, thats the issue , that the sponsor is the managment company, who also don't have alot of condo experience. Latley the issue has been coming up with the simple cleaning of the heating units, where the handymen were told they cant clean the owners unit, which is nuts...

riversider, what i am learning is ,it really depends on the managment company and what the board has agreed on..some of our friends living uptown thier handyman will fix anything in the apt that needs fixing

I had no idea about that..so if your toilet is leaking or diswasher, etc you don't ask for maintenance to come up and fix it? Than why pay for maintenance? It's really expensive to get a handyman, or even to find one to fix something.

riversider, what i am learning is ,it really depends on the managment company and what the board has agreed on
sfo, exactly!

For jobs that're an owner's responsibility, like futzing with toilets, the building should be charging the cost back to the owner. That goes whether the owner is an individual like you or the sponsor.
nwt, not necessarily. some would argue such services enhance the value of the building

I take back my comment...when I owned a house out of state I took out an annual service contract which covered all the things I commented on, toilet, dishwasher, etc.

"I had no idea about that..so if your toilet is leaking or diswasher, etc you don't ask for maintenance to come up and fix it? Than why pay for maintenance? It's really expensive to get a handyman, or even to find one to fix something."

It covers the maintenance of the BUILDING, not maintenance of your unit.

I understand, I understand

NYCMATT what i am seeing is it will depend on the building and the staff you have..when you have around 15 people, between handymen, porters, doormen, it's normal for them to help in the unit. We still have to pay outside contractors when major things happen int he bulding, like elevator, the laundry extra...im paying 15000 k a year in manitanance, so to fix a clog toliet that shoudlnt be an issue

When there is something wrong in my apt the SUPER comes and fixes it and i live in a coop....why pay a full salary to a SUPER if he isnt going to fix anything besides 'building' stuff...if this was the case he would be laying around in his free apt doing nothing....would make no sense at all.

nycmatt do you own a condo or a coop ?

It depends on whether you want all the owners to pay for services owners are obliged to pay for individually.

When the handyman spends half his time changing light bulbs and replacing toilet seats for the sponsor's renters, or for other owners who can't/won't do it themselves, then I don't want to pay my share of that and I want the owner to carry their own weight.

In a building with sponsor-owned apartments, that adds up to a big chunk of money the co-op/condo might be foregoing.

It's sort of like paying for electricity. If it's not charged to individual owners, some will run their AC all day in an empty apartment because everybody else is sharing the cost.

NWT, the same token, if the building has a gym , a pool, and a children's room,and you don't use them, then you wont pay for thier maintenance and would charge a fee to use ?

"When there is something wrong in my apt the SUPER comes and fixes it and i live in a coop....why pay a full salary to a SUPER if he isnt going to fix anything besides 'building' stuff...if this was the case he would be laying around in his free apt doing nothing....would make no sense at all."

Wow you really don't have a grasp on how buildings are run, do you?

Yes. That's why I wouldn't buy in a building with "amenities" I don't want.

Even though they're not staffed and so don't incur much direct cost to the building, they do increase the building's insurance expense.

"nycmatt do you own a condo or a coop ?"

Co-op.

"NYCMATT what i am seeing is it will depend on the building and the staff you have..when you have around 15 people, between handymen, porters, doormen, it's normal for them to help in the unit. We still have to pay outside contractors when major things happen int he bulding, like elevator, the laundry extra...im paying 15000 k a year in manitanance, so to fix a clog toliet that shoudlnt be an issue"

First of all, who DOESN'T pay $15K/year in maintenance? That's quite average.

Second, in most buildings, the super (or another employee) certainly will come to your aid if your toilet is overflowing. But expect to get a bill for it.

It's very much the exception for building staff to handle repairs inside your unit for free.

NYCmatt, wouldn't you say co-ops are different than condos in terms of what your fee goes towards

NYCmatt......dont get your comment....LIve in SUPERS are a FIXED cost....our building choses to keep our SUPER busy during his workday......if he wasnt fixing leaks etc in the interior of apartments then there isnt much else keeping him busy FULLTIME besides creating the schedule for the staff of 6 and dealing with external companies who might be fixing some external or internal building issues.......