Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

I have a problem which I could use help with. My 85 year old mother just passed papers on the sale of her condo today. Her problems began in the morning when she and her realtor were sitting in the office of Salem Deeds in Salem MA. They were sitting at the desk waiting for almost an hour for the seller and his lawyer to show up. Finally her realtor called their lawyer and they discovered that the "time" had been changed to later in the afternoon. No one had even notified either of them.

Now for the real problem. When she got the figures for the amount she would be due after paying her realtor...she was told that an extra $3200.00 would be deducted for a FULL year payment on a building assessment that each condo owner would have to pay. Early in March the condo committe voted and approved to assess each condo owner an amount to cover funds for badly needed repairs to each of the four (I think there are four) buildings in the complex. This amount I think covers new roofs, etc which are needed. Apparently her unit was assessed to pay $3200. I believe it was the condo commitee who also voted that any owner that is moving out MUST pay for the entire assessment YEAR. Thus, rather than paying just a portion of the $3200 (say, for Mar and Apr, of which she was still an owner)...they made her pay for the entire year. She believes that the other current condo owners are paying their owed amounts in monthly payments, although she is unsure if this is true. My question is....Is this legal for them to insist that she pay an entire year's amount? One would think that from the month of April and on,, the rest of the payments would fall on the new owner(s) of the condo unit. Do you have any knowledge of whether this would be true or not? I should also mention that the condo association is under HUD. Thank you very much.


Asked on 4/12/12, 5:45 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

When anyone sells a Condominium, it is standard that any unpaid assessments are paid by the Seller at closing either to the Condo Assn or the Buyer. It is not the Condo Assn rule, it is a standard procedure and was covered under her P&S.

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Answered on 4/12/12, 7:03 pm


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