Join CCI in the fight for fair taxation of condo units

If the unit owners at your condo are sick and tired of paying municipal taxes on the same basis as single family houses and not receiving commensurate local services, your corporation needs to join Canadian Condominium Institute in order to do something about it.

Despite the fact that there are over 6,000 condominium corporations in Ontario which house hundreds of thousands of voters, politicians of all levels and stripes pay little heed to the plight of the condo dwellers.  This is primarily because any individual condominium holds little clout or influence.  Only by banding together can meaningful change be achieved.

CCI and some of its Ontario chapters have made impressive inroads on the topic of fair municipal taxation in the past year and have built upon the hard work of a small group of condo directors in Markham who got the attention of local council.  We featured a guest post on that group's progress, here.

Through strength in numbers and the volunteer efforts of condo directors and professionals and the hardworking executive at the various chapters, CCI's efforts are reaching a point of critical mass. To continue this good work, it's vital that a strong front be presented to make the case for sweeping changes province-wide to address the inequities of the current municipal tax regime and to achieve fairness for condo owner taxpayers.

Take action today.  Get your condo corporation to join your local CCI chapter.

Condo corporation members of the CCI Toronto Chapter can (and should!) attend a special seminar just prior to the chapter's annual general meeting on November 25, 2010.   Details below. Events like this may be taking place across the province in coming months.

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City offers energy conservation assistance

Is your condo corporation interested in achieving greater energy savings?

If so, check out the seminars and materials available for condo corporations in Toronto through the "TowerWise" program offered by the Toronto Atmospheric Fund, an agency of the City.

Read the news release after the jump.

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Best of the blogosphere for September/October 2010

With Halloween behind us and Christmas preparations about to begin, it’s time to highlight some of the most notable blog posts on condo-related issues for the past two months.

South of the border, the foreclosure crisis is front and centre. Homeowners plead for relief from their debts, politicians in full election mode speak of foreclosure moratoriums, and commentators ponder the impact of such plans on the housing market. All the while, condos and HOAs caught in the squeeze are looking for help. The law bloggers are stepping up to help by providing timely insight and expertise. Here’s a sampling:

In other condo-related news . . . 

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GMA Condo Alert! (2010 Condo Conference Edition)

Attendees at last week's spectacular ACMO/CCI-T Condominium Conference received in their delegate bag a complimentary copy of the Conference Edition of Gardiner Miller Arnold's Condo Alert! newsletter. 

In response to popular demand, we're now releasing this special edition to the public.  

Topics include:

  • PIPEDA compliance
  • Booting out owners for extreme behaviour
  • Prostitution laws
  • Parallel proceedings under Condo Act and Human Rights Code
  • Special bonus feature: The coolest condo-related Wordle ever seen!

Click the picture at right or this link to view/download the pdf version for yourself or to share with others.

Microblog posts to 11/2/2010

There has been plenty of interesting condo-related stuff in the Twittersphere from September 30 to November 2, 2010.

To help time-starved condo professionals find and enjoy the best stuff quickly, we have organized the tweets using the following handy categories:

  • Court/Tribunal Decisions
  • Tips & Cool Stuff
  • News / Commentary -- Ontario
  • News / Commentary -- Canada
  • News / Commentary -- International
  • GMA in the News

For real-time updates, follow me on Twitter.

Here we go.

Court/Tribunal Decisions

ONSC orders condo unit owner to scale back oversize deck, nixes owners' claim for oppression remedy: http://bit.ly/aDvf5l

ABQB: Construction lender not liable for building deficiencies. Lawsuit by condo vs. developer's bank dismissed: http://bit.ly/aK3FIS

ONHRT to hear case re scooter parking after condo corp fails to respond and is deemed to admit allegations: http://bit.ly/cK63tc #Baffling

ABCA: Evicting condo unit owners is an extraordinary remedy, to be granted only when other incremental remedies fail: http://bit.ly/cX532i

Supreme Ct. of Canada finds insurance coverage for construction defect claims:    http://bit.ly/cBQ2iU

ONSC: Contractor entitled to defence by insurer in construction deficiency claim brought by condo corporation: http://bit.ly/9o68bD

ONSC allows buyer to terminate purchase of new #condo unit when developer (Trump) fails to deliver unit on time: http://bit.ly/ag3Uk8 http://bit.ly/hhJKCh

ONSC approves settlement of fraud claims vs. developer's principals in class action over 2002 condo turnover: http://bit.ly/ag3Uk8

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See you at the condo conference!

Don’t miss the 14th Annual CCI-T/ACMO Condominium Conference this Friday and Saturday (November 5-6, 2010) at the Hilton Suites Toronto/Markham.  

In addition to the excellent educational seminars and trade show, this important national event features the annual general meeting of the Canadian Condominium Institute and its national awards banquet dinner.  Condo unit owners, directors, managers and professionals from coast to coast will be on hand.

I am excited to be speaking on how to build responsible digital communities.  Be sure to attend this super session to find out how to make best use of social media tools and avoid pitfalls and traps while enhancing communication at your condo.

Mark Arnold is moderating a panel on condo mediation and arbitration in human rights disputes, which is becoming an increasingly hot topic.

Bob Gardiner will be moderating the ever-popular Ask the Experts panel on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday's keynote speaker is Major-General (Ret.) Lewis Mackenzie, one of our country's most notable peacekeepers. Not to be missed.

Gardiner Miller Arnold is proud to be a Silver sponsor of the conference once again, and all of us from GMA will be there. Take a moment to stop any of us and say hello! If you don’t know us by sight, see our mugshots here so that you will recognize us. We look forward to meeting you.

The details for Mark's program and mine are below, but visit www.condoconference.ca to view the full conference program, exhibitors list and registration details.

See you there!

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