Condo Act Changes That Are Absolutely Necessary

Submitted 2012

to the Ministry of Consumer Services

by the CONDOMINIUM INFORMATION CENTRE and CAFCOR

GOVERNANCE (GENERAL)

1. The new Act should have OVERSIGHT with legal teeth, EFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT of Act, rules, and by-laws. It should not be self-regulated: Self-regulation has failed.
2. Needs more accountability with consequences for boards, managers, owners, lawyers, and builders who refuse to follow the Act.
3. A Condo Review Board, or Ombudsman Office, or Condo Office is necessary.

FORMATION OF A SPECIAL 'CONDO OFFICE' 

This Office would:

• disseminate information about the Condominium Act to owners, directors, managers, lawyers, and builders;
• respond to enquiries from owners, boards, and managers;
• be legally empowered to enforce the Act in all its aspects and impose penalties on individuals responsible;
• have the power to levy fines against owners, individual board members, managers, lawyers, and builders as per the Act;
• be legally empowered to resolve disputes, including disputes with managers, boards, and builders;
• provide templates for a standardized Declaration for various types of condominiums
•     “                  “     for standardized By-laws
•     “                  “     for Status Certificates
• clarify and standardize insurance by-laws and regulations. No one understands them.
• be empowered to suggest changes in the contents of the education given to directors and managers that would strengthen condo governance and the consumer rights of condo owners;
• be supported by a monthly fee per unit (e.g., $3/month) paid by owners for each unit owned.
• be staffed by persons who are well versed in the Condominium Act and have experience as condo owners but are not political appointees nor members of the various condominium industries, to avoid conflicts of interest;
• have regular access to legal experts, accountants, and engineers, as necessary;

OTHER PROBLEMS THAT NEED TO BE RECTIFIED

1. Condo documents should be available and accessible to all owners, no question asked. This includes quotes from contractors, etc. Penalty should be levied against individual board members and managers who refuse to comply (penalties should not be levied against the corporations).
2. Board members, managers, and owners who refuse to comply with the Act, Declaration, Rules, and By-laws should be forced to comply by a Condo Office and, if necessary, have a penalty levied against them.
3. Boards should post summary of Board Meetings Minutes and monthly financial statements on bulletin boards or any other available format accessible to all owners.
4. Liens should be extended for a period of 5 months during which corporations can claim all arrears.
5. The Act should clearly spell out when liens can be placed against a unit to prevent abuses.
6. The Act should forbid large surpluses and contingency funds larger than 5% of budget. (These are abused by boards and managers—they become “slush funds”.)
7. Similarly, for Section 98, the Act should adjust the percentage for the amount of money that boards can spend on upgrades without the permission of owners. Currently, it is at 10% of the yearly budget. This results in large sums such as $125,000 for a budget of 1.25 million. The cut-off should be 10% for budgets of less than $100,000 and the percentage should go down by each budget incremental size. (There is too much abuse by boards and waste of owners’ money.)
8. Conversion condos should be covered by TARION (related Code) and the Building Code should raise the noise standards. In the meantime, the Condo Act should require sound-proofing carpeting.

EDUCATION AND CREDENTIALS

1. Managers should be licensed and receive appropriate education and training, with a focus on ethics and responsibility to owners.
2. Management companies should be accredited and a standard of ethics should be provided to them from an independent board, such as the Condo Office.
3. The Act should clarify the role of corporation lawyers and condo lawyers in general to prevent the abuses that are currently taking place on the part of a few major condo lawyers.
4. Board members and owners should have access to educational material that is independent of the condo industries.

FORMAT

1. The Act needs to be written more clearly, in English, with less legalese, to be more accessible.
2. The Act needs to have fewer loopholes for which legal interpretation is needed.