The Public Offering Statement
The Public Offering Statement, often just called the condo docs, is the disclosure package a buyer receives and the application the District reviews before units can be sold.
What it contains
It has two parts: a narrative that describes the condominium in plain terms, and a set of exhibits. The exhibits typically include the declaration and bylaws, the architect's report, the plat and plans, the limited warranty, and budgets for the project and for the future owners' association.
What the District does with it
DHCD reviews the package for compliance with the District's condominium law, a review that can take up to about two months. When it is satisfied, it issues a Condominium Registration Order. That order is what allows units to be marketed for sale and placed under contract.
Why it takes coordination
The statement is assembled from the work of several professionals: the attorney, the architect, the surveyor, and whoever prepares the budgets. Each piece has to agree with the others. A unit described one way in the declaration and another way on the plat is the kind of inconsistency that sends an application back.
Where it goes wrong
- Starting the documents when construction is finished, so completed units wait through the review.
- Budgets or descriptions that do not match the building as it was actually built.
- Adapting documents from another project that do not fit this one.