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Would imagine it's an HOA situation.
There's a company that owns the land, and it's sole purpose is to maintain the land and common areas of the building. All the units could be individually owned, and that company exists to have a bank account that can pay for repairs/repaints. In this situation I'm describing, while the company would own the building, they have no ability to raise rents, as all the units would be owned by the tenants.
That sounds an awful lot like a landlord. And if no rent is being collected, where is the money for the bank account coming from?
It's nothing like a landlord, as the person living in the apartment owns said apartment. The owner makes the money off it when it's next sold.
While often HOAs are abusive, and I don't want to ever be a part of one, I also don't want to live in a condo/apartment again. Someone needs to take care of the building, so they set up HOAs which, when run well, are democratic. You elect the board, you can go to the meetings and make your voice heard. If you speak well you can convince all the people in the building to get behind the idea you're championing. Condos require a Home Owner's Association due to the fact that no one person should get to dictate how the common area is run, and no one should be on the hook to fix, say, an elevator. Everyone pays dues, and those dues pay for the repairs.
If people elect to hire a company to be the head of the HOA, well they're choosing to be lazy, and for that reason, the HOA will be paying the company to run it's affairs. If the HOA is run by the residents, no money is going to enrich any one person, the money is being used to enrich everyone that lives there, through keeping the building in good shape to raise the value of their personal property.
The part that makes it similar to a landlord is the necessity for someone to actually be responsible for the building as a whole. "Dues" is just "rent" by another name.
And putting money in the bank is just rent for living? The money is used to increase your home's value. But I see we are at an impasse, and will be done discussing it.
No, putting money in your own bank account is not like paying rent because you still own the money and can still spend in on other things. Paying rent to a landlord, or dues into a maintenance account, removes the money from your ownership and prevents you from spending it on other things.
Someone needs to take care of the building, so they set up HOAs which, when run well, are democratic
That doesn't make it good.