The Condominium Act Review: Stage Two

Considering condos amassed to nearly one half of the homes built in 2012, and that over 1.3-million Ontarians claim to be condo-owners, it is not a surprise that efforts to modernize the Condominium Act of 1998 are underway. Currently, we are in the middle of Stage Two of a three-tier collaborative, public engagement process, designed to amend parameters of the old act in hopes of appeasing the concerns of condo owners and shareholders today. The second stage of the Condominium Act Review is expected to wrap-up by the end of summer 2013, in which the many options and recommendations on how to proceed with updating the Act will be compiled into an extensive report.

By fall 2013, the Condominium Act Review will commence its third and final stage, in which the options of Stage Two will be either validated or rejected by Ontario condo-owners. While many of the pending decisions are still unknown publicly, the Toronto Real Estate Board has released their contributions to the Condominium Act Review:

Governance

The expectation and qualifications of Board Members should be held to a hirer standard. Members should complete a specialized training session in which their obligations to the Board are thoroughly explained.
Owners should receive the Minutes from Annual General Meetings on-time.
Procedures and requirements for document retention must be established for instances of property management firm change.

Dispute Resolution

An independent tribunal should be created to assist in matters of dispute resolution.
The mandates of this tribunal should not overlap with the mandates of other agencies currently enstated. The tribunal should have decision-making power, but will be used mainly for advising and mediation.

Consumer Protection

Reduce the waiting period for a Status Certificate to five days. In addition, expand the details of the Certificate to include financial statements from the previous two years and a recent Reserve Fund Study. Status Certificates should be available both electronically and in-print.
Always provide purchasers with a clear, concise disclosure of their rights in regard to assignments.
Condominium rules must not interfere with third-party access (i.e. Realtors, contractors, etc.).
Establish better protection by setting a time frame for interim occupancy. In general, better protection needs to be set in-place for consumer contracts.

Condominium Manager Qualifications

The standards that a property manager must abide by should be increased. All property managers need to be aware of:

The diversity of condo types
The differences between high-rise and low-rise
Their limitations and expectations in respect to a revised definition of “property manager”

Issues Outside of the Condomimium Act

Builders should have to use RECO licensed sales representatives. Representatives should be obligated to disclose who they are representing.
The builder history needs to be transparent at all times.