I suspect people have got stories to tell regarding the operation of their condo association. Currently, we've got 17 of 20 apt owners paying regularly and that's a break even amount against the operating expenses, so I suppose we're lucky. The current controversy is over the cost of producing hot water (we have a common supply of hot water), because there is no compensation to those who use less, and no extra costs to those who use more, which seems unfair to those who use little hot water, for whatever reason. Other than that, it's pretty quiet here, at the moment, so I guess we're lucky.
We have a neighbour- the most demanding! who has not paid his maintenence for over a year ! Yet he is the one with the big cars, big house, big mouth ...............but refuses to pay .Although conjuntos often have these problems I still feel the majority of the time we live in harmony, help each other and I feel safer having close neighbours.
Interesting choice of topics because it captures a couple of aspects of what I feel about Cancun and why we live where we do here. We first came to Cancun in the fall of 1985 and stayed at what we found out to be the 3rd hotel built, the Maya Caribe. It was nothing special but was clean and the folks there made us feel comfortable. Actually we ended up staying there twice more over the early years. We did buy timeshare on that first trip despite my having cautioned my Mum about buying any timeshare previously. We bought at the Clipper Club because it wasn't on the front beach and the buildings were like concrete bunkers! We ultimately had 5 weeks, 2-2 bedroom units and 3-1 bedroom units. And, we used them all and loved it. Our dream was to have our own place here in Cancun. We wanted a single family place, not on the front beach but either on the lee side or on Pok-Ta-Pok. We didn't want a condo with fees and restrictions like the timeshare but a place with a yard so we could have pets of our own come with us, and more importantly, not have to listen to others 'bitch and moan'. We looked and waited for over 10 years and good things do come to those who wait. We feel that we not only "lucked out" but got a bargain on the Casa that we have. I grew up on the Southern coast of Maine where my Mum still lives summers, a beach kid, and then we moved to a "City" in NH... then to a small country town in NH where we even had horses. After the timeshare, there was no way in the world that I would ever live in a shared maintenance fee type of living space again! And, I guess being a beach/country kid, there's no way in hell that I would ever come to Mexico, Cancun or anywhere else to live in any kind of City... We found our dream in the Hotel Zone on the 18Th hole of Pok-Ta-Pok and we are thankful and feel blessed to be here.
Association/Maintenance fees were one of the main reasons we left our previous conjunto and moved to a private house. That, plus a landlord who thought it was our job as tenants to pay for the maintenance of his house. Our previous place was 22 residences, but only around 15 were paying their fees when we left. It wasn't long after Wilma so many were hurting financially but the people who didn't pay (as Tracey mentions) always seemed to have the flashiest cars and the biggest mouths. It got to the point where the pool got cleaned once a week instead of daily, the gardener came twice a week instead of daily, security was reduced from 4 staff to 2 and their "hut" had a leaking roof from Wilma damage for 6 months. Even broken light bulbs in communal areas didn't get fixed for weeks due to lack of funds. So what did the association do? Well instead of chasing those in debt to pay what they owed they increased the fee for those of us that did pay. That was enough for us and we moved out.
