ABSTRACT
Fairview Mews is a successful 25 unit cooperative apartment building in a North American city, completed five years ago. Most of the occupants are older people who have sold nearby houses. Each unit pays a share of the operating costs and taxes, and contributes $50 per month to a reserve fund for the future replacement of major building components, even though such work should not be necessary for many years. The level of contributions was set on the basis of a telephone poll of what similar projects were doing. Recently, legislation has been passed requiring that cooperative apartment buildings prepare replacement reserve plans, recording building components at risk and estimating how long they will last and how much it will cost to replace them. The unit-holders at Firthwood Mews saw it as a good update on the state of their building and a check on the adequacy of their reserve fund.
