Mississauga condo is charging a expensive lockbox fees

A Mississauga condo building is charging a steep lockbox fee, which a real estate agent is refusing to pay.

Real estate agent Leeann Cole told INsauga.com she was surprised to learn she had to pay $100 to put a lockbox at Onyx Condos at 223 Webb Dr. in Mississauga.

Cole said she arrived at the condo building on Aug. 13 to assist her client in leasing a unit and security told her the fee was now in place.

“I have been a realtor for quite a few years now, and I’ve never seen this happen before,” Cole said.

The condo board approved the fee on April 1, management told INsauga.com.

“Please be aware that it is common practice for Condominium Corporations to set fees for certain services, though the specifics may vary from one condominium to another,” Iryna Lazovik, property manager for the building, told INsauga.com in an emailed statement. “These fees play a role in helping to mitigate increases in maintenance costs for owners.”

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But Cole argued it is not her job to collect fees for the condo corporation.

“I told them it was not my responsibility as a realtor to enforce the condominium rules and to ask for money from owners of units,” she said. “I told them I would not be doing this job on their behalf, and that I would not be giving them $100 to literally put a lock box inside of another box and write a name on a piece of paper.”

Last year real estate agents were able to access the lockbox in the stairwell and it worked well, she said.

There are condominiums in Toronto that require lockbox deposit fees of $25 to $50 but the money is returned once the lockbox is taken out, she said. But this is not the case here — these fees are going to the condo corporation, Cole said.

Cole is refusing to pay the fee and is instead waiting outside the building for agents to pass the key directly to them to show the unit.

“This is absolutely ludicrous,” she said. “I am a busy agent, and I certainly do not have the time to waste.”