I don’t know Wispys situation in particular, but in a lot of condos (apartments that people own), on top of a mortgage there is often a maintenance fee that goes directly to a special account for building repairs or maintenance. Then for emergencies there might be additional “special assessments” to cover unexpected expenses. If those are not paid they can exert pressure through a lien on the property or other means. Most often owners will be able to see exactly what the maintenance fee covers. This helps keep the process transparent. So you know $20 of each fee goes to monthly landscaping or whatever so you can do the math to make sure there’s no fraud. If there’s 100 units and you’re each spending $3000 a month to have someone take care of a small garden bed then you know someone is doing something fishy. So I imagine they received a breakdown of their fees that included how much it cost to keep the elevator running.
I don’t know Wispys situation in particular, but in a lot of condos (apartments that people own), on top of a mortgage there is often a maintenance fee that goes directly to a special account for building repairs or maintenance. Then for emergencies there might be additional “special assessments” to cover unexpected expenses. If those are not paid they can exert pressure through a lien on the property or other means. Most often owners will be able to see exactly what the maintenance fee covers. This helps keep the process transparent. So you know $20 of each fee goes to monthly landscaping or whatever so you can do the math to make sure there’s no fraud. If there’s 100 units and you’re each spending $3000 a month to have someone take care of a small garden bed then you know someone is doing something fishy. So I imagine they received a breakdown of their fees that included how much it cost to keep the elevator running.