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Yea but their condominium fees are super expensive. I know this because my relatives owns like a couple of buildings. I have seen condominium fees as high as $1400 a month.
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Family Sized Condos
- Thread starter dt_toronto_geek
- Start date
W. K. Lis
Superstar
As people downsize to a smaller home, usually a condo, they have to have a place to store all things they accumulated over the years. Unfortunately, the storage locker (if there is one) can be small, sometimes too small.
Maybe their old place had a garage or basement to store them. They maybe parked on their driveway because there was no space to store their car.
Some may even do without a car, to keep costs down or they find out they don't use it that much. A automobile sharing facility may end up as an alternative. Even then, if they end up with a parking spot that ends up not being used. Other than renting it out, they can't store their accumulated goods there, because it is "forbidden".
They end up having to rent an unit in a public storage facility.
Why can't the condo board allow owners to put in a frame around their parking spot, to use it as an extra storage space? Or at least the builders could build storage lockers that are the same size as a single-car garage?
Maybe their old place had a garage or basement to store them. They maybe parked on their driveway because there was no space to store their car.
Some may even do without a car, to keep costs down or they find out they don't use it that much. A automobile sharing facility may end up as an alternative. Even then, if they end up with a parking spot that ends up not being used. Other than renting it out, they can't store their accumulated goods there, because it is "forbidden".
They end up having to rent an unit in a public storage facility.
Why can't the condo board allow owners to put in a frame around their parking spot, to use it as an extra storage space? Or at least the builders could build storage lockers that are the same size as a single-car garage?
When I moved from a large house to a condo, I found the necessity to purge all that stuff was very beneficial. I found things I hadn't used for years, so why was I keeping and storing it?
The problem with parking spots in condos is that, while they are owned, the walls and ceiling around them are common element, and you can't attach/build anything to a common element.
Builders will never build storage lockers that large -- there isn't enough room to build one for every unit, and no one would pay for them. We have extra lockers in our building that have sat unsold for a couple of years now. I also see lots of empty lockers, so storage isn't always an issue.
The problem with parking spots in condos is that, while they are owned, the walls and ceiling around them are common element, and you can't attach/build anything to a common element.
Builders will never build storage lockers that large -- there isn't enough room to build one for every unit, and no one would pay for them. We have extra lockers in our building that have sat unsold for a couple of years now. I also see lots of empty lockers, so storage isn't always an issue.
S
shlammed
Guest
Our unit came with parking + locker included and much to our delightful surprise, when we moved in we realized that we scored a parking spot that backed onto our locker and the locker is one with its own door and is massive compared to the typical cage most people get.
I'd say it's about 8 feet tall and maybe 6 feet by 6 feet. Might be even bigger than that. So we managed to purge a lot of useless crap but also ended up being able to keep and store a lot of stuff we thought we'd have to leave at someone's garage.
recharts
Banned
Proper ventilation of the entire basement parking is one problem that comes to my mind.
The air flows will become a lot more complicated and the cost for ventilating the now compartmentalized basement/parking lot will sky rocket.
Besides that it might not become safe due to accumulation of the exhaust gas coming from cars
rbt
Senior Member
I believe it's fire related building code which prevents this.
Ex-Montreal Girl
Active Member
Many condos do allow for wall-mounted racks -- we just added them in our building.
Ex-Montreal Girl
Active Member
I wish ours did. But it is in our bylaws.
By-laws can be changed 
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Frames do not have to be wood. They can be metal. To allow for airflow, mess or chicken-wire can be added near the top for air circulation. Most underground garages already have sprinkler systems for fire.
James
Senior Member
Interestingly, I would think that many condo buyers would actually be willing to pay a little bit more to purchase a locker if the lockers were more like storage rooms and less like the kennel cages they are today.
Ex-Montreal Girl
Active Member
Agreed.
We have a rather large kennel cage -- maybe 8D by 4W by 8H -- and I have set it up with one of those rolling wire drawer/basket things near the front with deep drawers. (Very handy for odds and ends, tools, paint cans etc.) I can store a lot of stuff in that locker, and have room for more stuff.
But I would KILL for another double closet (humidity controlled) for out of season clothes and shoes.
There's a reason all those storage buildings are popping up like mushrooms. If I had a few million to invest, I'd build some in Montreal, where the downtown is being developed with a lot of new Toronto-like condo towers with tiny suites for the suburban millennials coming to the downtown.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
At least new condos being built should have storage units of different sizes, like the public storage units available. The smallest public storage unit are about 4' H x 3' x 4', and go up to some as large as 20' x 40'.
A single garage size of 12' x 22' maybe is the most largest needed in a condo building. If someone wants something larger, then they can go looking outside at a public storage facility.
A single garage size of 12' x 22' maybe is the most largest needed in a condo building. If someone wants something larger, then they can go looking outside at a public storage facility.
DSC
Superstar
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I used to live in a condo where there were decent sized storage rooms in each Unit plus a room elsewhere where owners could store large things. The Board decided to try to clean out the larger room and used the sign-in records. Over 50% of the people had put things there over 5 years earlier and NEVER gone into the room since. They were given a month to do so and if they did not they were discarded. Most were never 'visited' and thus were disposed of. People need to throw things out. As with building new roads (if you build them 'traffic will come'), if you provide larger storage spaces people will fill them (and then ignore them!)