That's interesting how your cooperative functions..... I live in a condominium complex (condominium is a form of ownership, where we own our apartment units and are responsible for them, and also own a share of the community grounds and amenities). We have a board of directors (Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer and an At-Large member) which is voted on annually by the homeowners, and in turn, that board is responsible for hiring a management company which then takes care of hiring people to do necessary upkeep such as lawn mowing, landscaping, trash removal, snow removal, lake and swimming pool maintenance, etc.
Each unit owner pays a monthly fee for this, which is predicated upon the square footage size of the unit. The largest units pay the most in fees, the smaller units pay proportionately less. Anything major which comes up we also vote on when the board and the management company present the situation to us. For the most part it all does go smoothly, although none of us were happy when a couple of years ago there was an unusually large one-year "special assessment" fee added to our normal regular monthly payments. Somehow it slipped through cracks and we were not notified in advance that this was going to happen. Needless to say, things were pretty tense for a while!
I don’t think I ever explained, or tried to, explain about living in a ’condo’ in english before.
Sorry if it sounds confusing. But I believe we live in a similar type of condomium.
Though, they work differently depending on the construct of how big the cooperative and amount of apartments the particular condominiums are about I assume everywhere.
The cooperative I live in now are only 1 house however, with 32 apartments/condos with not a lot of difference in size, that we own individually.
I have lived in bigger condo cooperative’s before, and the administration is often managed much better in a broader perspective and centralized in the country.
But as our condominium is only 1 house, the board are not always so functional here, and most people in the house don’t attend very often on those meetings either.
But yes the board are responsible for managing so the house is working for everyone.
Times have been better earlier in this condominium, over the time I’ve been owning this condo though, for sure. We/They even managed to get a pretty big renovation take place at a time. The board was much better at that time.
Ah well, it might be time soon to look around for a new and bigger condo anyway.
I don't miss my Homeowners Association. When I got my first house, I belonged to three different associations--the association that existed for the whole development, the association for those behind our set of gates, and the association for our few houses along the street and just beyond that.
I never attended the meetings. At some point, a unfriendly woman who seemed to be contrary to anything and everything became President and Lord Executioner. Anything that didn't look quite right got a notice from the Homeowners Association and, if not handled promptly, legal action. Ugggh. I was so happy to move away.
I grew up in a house, and I totally hate everything that has to do with gardening. Never ever again.
I also much prefer to live in the city, but maybe not in the most noiciest parts.
