3 benefits of condo newsletters: communication, community and transparency

After a long day, exhausting day at work, you make your way down to the pool area in your 43-storey condominium building. With a splitting headache and a body sore from running around the city for meetings, all you’re looking forward to is soaking in the warmth of your condo’s jacuzzi.  

It just wasn’t meant to be, however. Once you arrive at the pool area, you make your way over to the jacuzzi only to see that it had been drained. A print out notice on the wall above the jacuzzi informs you: “Closed for maintenance for the week. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.”

Frustrated, you decide to complain to the condo board of directors for poor property management in Toronto. As a condo owner and resident, it’s disappointing when there are maintenance issues and scheduled fire alarms that you are not made aware of. While there are often notices posted in building elevators, not all updates are shared with condo owners or the residents who live in them. What this results in for you as the condo owner is that you’re left to constantly complain to the board. There must be a better way to ensure that both condo owners and residents are informed about the business of their buildings, their homes.

The Solution:

Since 82.9 percent of condo owners purchase their condominiums to live in themselves, it’s only fair to keep them updated about the state of affairs in their buildings through proper property management practices in Toronto. There is a simple solution that the condo board can implement that would prevent all of these complaints from both condo owners and residents alike. The distribution of a monthly newsletter to all parties can provide a direct connection to the condo building they manage.

Sounds simple enough, but not all boards see value in distributing newsletters to condo owners. That is why we have highlighted for you the top 3 benefits of a newsletter for Toronto property management.

A newsletter promotes community and a sense of ‘condo culture’ for the building.

One way for board leaders to create a strong and vibrant community in their building is through a monthly newsletter, whether an e-newsletter distributed online or a physical paper copy

Their creation of these newsletters shows that they understand the importance of distributing information that the condo owners are interested in and providing a valuable resource rather than just a piece of paper with warnings, fines and violation notices.

What a newsletter can do for a condo building is unite different owners, residents, and members alike by fostering a bond between these groups. Since sometimes apartment living can isolate individuals, these newsletters can bring them together by encouraging neighbourly behaviour, encouraging active participation in building activities, and finding new community members and condo owners to join the board of directors.

A newsletter updates condo owners and residents about building news.

Since the vacancy rate for condo rentals is only 1.3% in Toronto, the majority of units in a building are occupied. As a condominium board, your primary responsibility is to act as a bridge between residents, condo owners, maintenance companies, and the property management company. Coordinating multiple parties usually means you need to have great management, organization, and communication skills. This is where the expertise of property managers in Toronto come in.

Newsletters make communicating with condo owners and residents easier. By releasing a bi-weekly or monthly newsletter, you can update condo owners about what is going on in the condo. You can share new amenities in the building with the residents and owners.

Whether an elevator isn’t working, a pool is closed for maintenance, or there are reoccurring complaints from neighbours about a specific issue, the newsletter provides you a platform to easily communicate all condo news to your owners and residents. This newsletter can be made available online on your HOA website or emailed to condo owners as well as distributed to residents at the building.

A newsletter can help maintain financial transparency.

If the board feels the need and owners are interested, newsletters can be a resource where the recent financial status of the Condominium is shared with involved parties. What this section might shed light on are any incurred expenses for ongoing or planned projects. This ensures transparency between the board, condo owners and residents. This way, they know what their money and maintenance fees are being spent on, and are kept in the loop on the development of their home buildings.

Newsletters can also promote local business and activities in the area to keep condo owners and residents engaged. Not only would this increase community, but could allow the board to garner a little extra revenue with ads from local businesses. It’s these simple solutions that can lead to the best practices when it comes to Toronto property management.

By organizing and distributing a quality newsletter for condo owners and residents, a condo board can address the incoming complaints they may have from the group they are meant to support. What condo newsletters can ensure is that there is clear communication, increased sense of community and transparency. Not only can they share financial updates in the newsletter, but the newsletter is also a source that can show condo owners and residents where the board’s attention is, increasing trust and transparency between the parties.

ICC^® Property Management has been managing condominiums in the Greater Toronto Area since 1992 and embodies open communication and transparency among condo boards. Once you leave the stress and miniscule day-to-day property management tasks to us, it will free up time for your board to focus on future developments and create a greater sense of community within your condominium building. Contact ICC^® ’s property management specialists to assist you with property management in Toronto.