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Condominium Buyers

Status Certificate 

What Is It?

When buying a condominium unit, you will want to know the state of affairs of the condo corporation before you become obligated to purchase.  Any offer to purchase a condo unit should contain a clause making the offer conditional on you being provided with and being satisfied with the contents of a current Status Certificate for the condo unit and accompanying documents.  A Status Certificate (formerly known as an Estoppel Certificate) costs $100.00.  The condo corporation has 10 days in which to prepare the Status Certificate after it is ordered.  Although the sellers or their agent commonly order and pay for the Status Certificate, you are entitled at law to rely on its contents.

Among other things, the Certificate discloses the following pertinent information:

          Information in a Status Certificate:

  1. Whether there is default in payment of common expenses.
  2. Whether there are additional assessments against the unit.
  3. Whether there are circumstances that may result in increased common expenses.
  4. The amount of the reserve fund, whether the reserve fund is anticipated to be adequate for the current fiscal year, and whether there are plans to increase the reserve fund.
  5. Whether the condominium corporation is a party to any lawsuits.
  6. Whether adequate insurance is in place.
  7. Who the property manager and directors are.

Other Documents

Together with the Status Certificate, you will likely receive copies of the following documents, each of which should be thoroughly reviewed before your deal becomes firm and binding:

          Documents Enclosed with Status Certificates:

  1. Certificate of Insurance.
  2. Current Operating Budget.
  3. Most recent Financial Statements.
  4. Condominium Declaration.
  5. Condominium By-laws
  6. Rules and Regulations.

In addition to the foregoing documents, the Status Certificate will outline certain agreements to which the condo corporation is a party.  One such agreement is a management agreement.  Whoever ordered the Status Certificate is entitled to receive copies of these agreements upon paying an additional fee for copying.

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