What sits outside the association fee at a branded Miami condo?

Four kinds of charge, and the fact sheets name three of them. The a la carte services the brand sells by the hour or the plate, which Four Seasons Coconut Grove and the Ritz-Carlton Residences South Beach list by name: in-residence dining, a personal chef, housekeeping, a butler, a trainer, childcare, pet care, grocery provisioning, a car wash. The brand's own annual fee, which Delano publishes as the annual benefits fee behind its Accor program. The club, which Six Fisher Island publishes as lifetime membership with the initiation paid by the developer and the annual dues the owner's. And the gratuities, the holiday fund and the staff tipping that no sheet prints and every staffed building has. None of these sits in the association fee, which pays the building's own staff and the operator's base charge, so the yearly cost of a branded home is the budget plus what the owner actually uses, plus what the brand charges for being there.

The building, its staff and the operator's base charge, divided among the owners by share. The fee funds the doorman, the valet, the engineer, the common areas, the master insurance, the reserves and the management company; at a branded building it also funds the amount the association pays the operator under the management agreement, which is the line to find first. What the sheets publish is the service the fee buys as a standing presence: Four Seasons Coconut Grove publishes a Director of Residence, a doorman and bellman, 24/7 security and valet and 24 hour on-call emergency repair; the Ritz-Carlton Residences South Beach a 24 hour doorman, concierge and valet; Cipriani 24 hour staff trained by the brand and a Director of Residences. Those are the people the fee pays whether or not the owner is home. Read Miami association fees, how to read the developer's estimated budget and who manages a new Miami condo and what the management agreement says.

A service the owner orders and pays for separately, at a price the operator sets. Four Seasons Coconut Grove publishes the list in those words: a la carte in-residence dining, spa, housekeeping, grocery provisioning, butler, wellness programs, dog grooming, catering and car wash. The Ritz-Carlton Residences South Beach publishes a la carte in residence dining, a personal chef, a trainer, a spa, childcare and pet care. Cipriani publishes in-home dining and 24 hour catering from its resident only dining room and a house limousine within a three mile radius. The sheets publish the menu, not the prices, and the prices are the operator's to set and change, so a buyer who intends to use the butler twice a week asks for the current rate card and reads whether the management agreement caps or indexes it. Read what the branded residence premium buys, concierge and services at Four Seasons Coconut Grove and concierge and services at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach.

A charge for the privileges, separate from the building. Delano Residences publishes Beach Club access at Delano Miami Beach, a Members' Club and the Accor Ownership Benefits Program with ALL Diamond status, subject to the annual benefits fee, which is the plainest version of the charge on our file: the brand's network is a membership and the membership has a yearly price. The Ritz-Carlton Residences South Beach publishes owner benefits at more than 700 Marriott luxury hotels, subject to availability, without naming a fee on our file, which means the buyer asks whether one exists rather than assuming either way. A brand fee is usually set in the licence or the owner benefits agreement rather than the condominium budget, so the buyer reads those two documents for the figure, the indexation and what happens to the benefit if the licence ends. Read the brand licence at Delano, resort residence or condominium residence and who pays to refurbish the shared spaces of a branded Miami condo.

A second budget with its own board. Six Fisher Island publishes lifetime Fisher Island Club membership on closing, subject to Club approval, with the developer paying the initiation fee only and the annual dues and charges the owner's cost, and the Club setting eligibility. That is the full shape of a club charge in three sentences: an entry the developer may cover, a yearly figure the owner carries for as long as the home is owned, and a membership committee that is not the association. Where a building publishes a members' club of its own, as Delano does, the question is whether residents are members by right, by fee or by application, and what the dues are. Read the Six Fisher Island dossier, club membership obligations at Six Fisher Island and club membership obligations at Delano.

The gratuities and the holiday fund. A staffed building in Miami runs on people who are tipped, at the holidays through a fund the association or the owners organise and through the year by the owner who uses the valet and the butler, and no fact sheet on our file publishes a figure for either because none is a contract term. A buyer who wants the number asks an owner in a comparable building or the manager, and treats the answer as a custom rather than a rule. The other unprinted line is the cost of the brand's standards inside the home: finishes, systems and furnishings that the licence requires the owner to maintain to the brand's specification, which the condominium documents state and the refurbishment cycle enforces. Read what it costs to own a condo in Miami each year, the first year of owning a Miami condo and how to read the amenity rules before buying a Miami condo.

What does the association pay the operator, and under what agreement and term? What is on the a la carte rate card today, and can the operator change it? Is there a brand or benefits fee, where is it set, and what happens to it if the licence ends? Is there a club, what are the dues, and who decides who joins? What do the standards inside the home oblige the owner to maintain? A branded building that answers all five in writing is one the buyer can cost; the desk reads the answers with the buyer, and the agreements themselves are counsel's. Read documents a Miami pre-construction buyer should request, questions to ask a sales team and branded or unbranded residences.