What a Professional Document Reviewer Does
A condominium document reviewer reads the package and produces a report on it.
A review may help organise and interpret the financial, reserve-fund and governance information, put the documents in context against each other, and identify matters that deserve further investigation before you commit — the things that are easy to miss when the material is unfamiliar and the condition period is short.
What is included varies between providers. Confirm scope, turnaround time and cost before engaging one, because turnaround in particular has to fit inside your condition period.
When It's Worth It
Professional review tends to earn its cost where:
- The corporation is large, or the document package is extensive
- The building is older, or has significant capital components
- There is a known special assessment, dispute or major project
- The reserve fund position is not obviously straightforward
- You are buying an investment property and the numbers have to work
- You are new to condominium ownership
- Or you simply want a second, independent set of eyes
It is a due diligence cost, and it is small relative to the purchase and very small relative to an unexpected assessment.
Who Does What
The document reviewer reads and interprets the documents and reports on what they contain.
Your lawyer advises on legal questions — the contract, the estoppel certificate, liability for an assessment, the effect of a bylaw, your rights and obligations.
An accountant advises on the financial statements as an accounting matter.
CalgaryListings Group helps you understand the real estate implications: what the findings may mean for value, for resale, for your negotiating position, and for whether this is the right building for what you are trying to do.
We are not condominium document reviewers, lawyers, accountants or engineers, and nothing on this site is legal, accounting or engineering advice. What we bring is a long history of watching how these issues play out in Calgary transactions.
Reviewing the Documents Yourself
Plenty of buyers read their own documents, and there is nothing wrong with that — particularly on a newer, smaller, simpler corporation.
If you are going to, read in this order:
- The reserve fund study — what is coming, and what it will cost.
- The financial statements — where the corporation stands, operating and reserve.
- The minutes, as far back as you reasonably can — what is actually being discussed.
- The bylaws — specifically the parts that affect how you intend to live there.
- The insurance information — coverage, deductibles, claims.
Then read them against each other. Almost everything useful comes from the cross-references, not from any single document.
Timing
Document review lives inside your condition period, and the clock is usually shorter than buyers expect once you account for requesting the documents, receiving them and getting them reviewed.
Build the timeline backwards from your condition deadline, and get the request in early. This is one of the practical things we handle for our buyers, because a review that arrives after the condition date is worth very little.