What Your Condo Maintenance Fees Actually Buy

Published 12 November 2026 · By Jatin Dua, Broker of Record, RE/MAX Quantum Realty

Maintenance fees are the most misunderstood number in a condo purchase. Buyers compare them between buildings as though they were measuring the same thing, and reject units with higher fees as though lower were automatically better. Neither is right, and the question that actually matters is almost never asked.

What the fee is

Your maintenance fee is your share of running the corporation. It typically covers:

• Common element operating costs — cleaning, lobby staff, concierge or security, landscaping, snow removal, elevator maintenance and servicing, garbage, pest control
• Insurance on the building and common elements (not your own contents or improvements)
• Management fees for the property management company
• Utilities for the common areas, and in many buildings some or all of your in-suite utilities
• Amenity operating costs — pool, gym, party room, guest suites
• A contribution to the reserve fund, which is the part that matters most and gets discussed least

Why comparing fees per square foot across buildings is nearly meaningless

Because the fee includes different things in different buildings.

A building where the fee includes heat, hydro, water and air conditioning will have a visibly higher fee than one where you pay your own hydro. That does not make it more expensive — you simply pay it in one place instead of two. Comparing the fees without adjusting for inclusions produces exactly the wrong conclusion.

Before comparing any two buildings, write down for each:

• what utilities are included
• whether parking and locker carry separate fees
• what amenities exist and are being paid for
• the building’s age and the number of units sharing the fixed costs

Then compare. Often the gap closes to nearly nothing, and sometimes it reverses.

Why a low fee can be the warning sign

This is the counter-intuitive part, and it is the single most useful thing in this article.

A corporation can keep fees low in two ways. It can run efficiently — or it can underfund the reserve fund.

The reserve fund pays for major repairs and replacements: the roof, the windows, the elevators, the garage membrane, the heating and cooling plant, the corridors. These are not optional and they are not cheap. A corporation that has not been putting enough aside has not avoided the cost; it has deferred it onto whoever owns the units when the bill arrives.

When it arrives, it arrives as a special assessment — a demand for a lump sum per unit, which can run from a few thousand dollars to, in bad cases, tens of thousands. Or as a sharp fee increase. Or both.

So a building with suspiciously low fees for its age and amenities is not necessarily a bargain. It may be a building where you are buying someone else’s deferred maintenance.

What to actually look at: the status certificate

Everything above is knowable before you buy, and the document that tells you is the status certificate. Your lawyer should review it, and your offer should be conditional on that review.

The things that matter in it:

• The reserve fund balance, and the reserve fund study. The study projects what will need replacing and when, and what the fund should hold. Compare the projection against the actual balance. A meaningful shortfall is the number that predicts your future.
• Any special assessment levied, contemplated or anticipated. The certificate must address this.
• The fee increase history. Steady modest increases are a sign of competent management. Years of flat fees followed by a jump is a sign of the opposite.
• Litigation the corporation is involved in. Construction deficiency claims against a developer are common in newer buildings and not automatically alarming, but you want to know.
• Arrears across the building. Significant arrears mean the remaining owners carry the shortfall.
• The budget, and whether it is in deficit.
• Rules that affect you — pets, rentals, short-term rentals, smoking, what you may do on the balcony.

Read the reserve fund study, or make sure your lawyer tells you what it says. It is the closest thing to a forecast of your ownership costs that exists, and most buyers never see it.

What drives fees up, structurally

Some buildings simply cost more to run, and it is not mismanagement:

• Extensive amenities. A pool is expensive — plant, chemicals, staffing, insurance. So are a running track, a bowling alley and a theatre room. Ask yourself honestly whether you will use them, because you are paying for them monthly either way.
• Few units. A boutique building of forty units spreads fixed costs — management, elevator contracts, insurance — across forty payers instead of four hundred. Boutique buildings often have higher per-foot fees for exactly this reason.
• 24-hour concierge or security. Staffing is one of the largest line items in any budget.
• Age. Older buildings need more, and need it sooner.
• Complex or elaborate construction. Extensive glazing, green roofs, water features and unusual mechanical systems all cost more to maintain.

The question to ask instead

Not “are the fees high?” but: “is this building adequately funded for what it will need in the next ten years, and does the fee reflect that honestly?”

A well-run building with higher fees, a healthy reserve and a record of steady small increases is a better purchase than a building with low fees, a thin reserve and a twenty-year-old roof. The second one is cheaper this month and more expensive over your ownership.

The short version

Fees are not comparable until you adjust for inclusions, amenities, unit count and age. A low fee can mean an underfunded reserve and a special assessment coming. The status certificate and the reserve fund study answer all of this before you commit, so make your offer conditional on a lawyer’s review and actually read what comes back.

General information, not legal advice. Have an Ontario real estate lawyer review the status certificate on any condo purchase.