Obtaining Information About Condos

Q - I am ready to buy a condo but I don't want to put in an offer until I have all the information about the building and know about the rules. I asked a real estate agent to get me this information on 3 condos that I liked but was told that this was not possible.  Why not?

A - Your agent can give you certain information such as - are pets allowed, is it an adult or family building and are rentals permitted.  The full package consists of approximately 2 years of strata minutes, financial statements, by-laws, engineering report and so on.  It is only available when you make an offer because some of this information is confidential and there is also a cost attached to obtain this information.  The costs involved are for photo copying and administrative fees.  The real estate agent usually pays these costs for you when you place an offer.  He/she will also place a condition in your offer whereby you are given enough time to read through the material and are satisfied with what you read. You are not committed to go through with the offer until you remove this condition and others pertaining to different matters.