Assessments: what they are and what they pay for

A regular assessment is your unit’s share of the association’s common expenses for the year, billed in instalments — usually monthly. It is not rent, not a fee for services used, and not optional.

The obligation is secured. Unpaid assessments become a lien against the unit by operation of the declaration and statute, and that lien has priority ahead of most other interests. This is why withholding assessments is never an effective way to make a point.

The declaration assigns each unit an allocated interest — sometimes equal shares, more often by square footage, original value, or a schedule fixed when the community was created. Your assessment is the budget multiplied by your allocation.

It does not change because of use

An owner who never uses the pool, never parks in the garage or is away half the year pays the same as one who uses everything. The allocation is a property interest, not a usage charge.

It rarely changes at all

Changing allocated interests generally requires amending the declaration, often unanimously. If your allocation looks wrong, it is far more likely to be the schedule you bought under than an error.

• Insurance on the common property and, in most condominiums, the structure of the units
• Utilities serving the common areas, and often water and sewer for the whole building
• Landscaping, cleaning, snow and refuse
• Maintenance and repair of the common elements
• Professional management, accounting, audit or review, and legal
• Reserve contributions for future replacements
• Taxes on association-owned property, and licences

What they do not cover is everything inside your unit boundary that the declaration makes the owner’s responsibility — which for most owners is the larger share of what actually goes wrong in a year.

Regular assessments change when the budget changes, which is annual. A board cannot raise them mid-year on a whim; it can, in defined circumstances, levy a special assessment, which is a different thing and is covered in its own guide.

If an increase is large, the useful question is not "why is it going up" but "which line moved". Insurance, water and sewer, and the reserve contribution are the three that most often account for it.