Mission Valley condos, San Diego CA: Condo living - Sharing space

This is the fifth in my "Condo living" series. To find previous posts in the series, simply click here.

While living in your Mission Valley condo has many benefits, such as little or no maintenance, it has its own set of problems that one has to be aware of. One of those problems that seems to come up regularly is that of sharing space.

By sharing space, I mean one of three things:

1. subleasing all of part of your Mission Valley condo to someone else
2. inviting friends and relatives to stay with you for prolonged periods of time
3. having a loud, boisterous party, such as during a Chargers or Padres playoff game

Some condominium CC&R's speak in only broad, general terms about sharing space while others are very specific.

If you are intent on subleasing your Mission Valley condo to someone else, rather than just having a roommate, you need to contact the condominium association and your mortgage lender before you buy your condo. Some lenders will not provide a mortgage if you're not going to live in the condo or if too many of the condos are already being rented.

Renters typically aren't inclined to maintain a property that doesn't belong to them, and usually don't have a copy of the CC&R's, so renters bring a set of problems that the condo association might not be prepared to deal with.

When inviting people to stay with you, "prolonged periods of time" are usually defined as either (1) 48 hours or more, or (2) seven days or more. The presumption in many cases is that a visitor will bring a car, and since parking is at a premium in many condominium complexes, a visitor's car could take away from a parking place for another condominium owner. Forty-eight hours allows someone to come visit for the weekend, while seven days recognizes that a family member or friend might have an emergency that you can help them with by letting them stay with you.

Extenuating circumstances requiring longer stays are usually handled on a case-by-case basis but are rarely denied. You just need to check your CC&R's so that you'll know what normal circumstances are and what extenuating circumstances are.

Loud boisterous parties are rarely allowed, but if 90% of your condominium complex is having a Super Bowl party because the Chargers are in it, it's unlikely that anyone is going to be cited. If the hated Oakland Raiders are in the Super Bowl, though, and you're the only Raiders fan in your complex, and you're the only one having a party, it might be a different story.