As usual, the delegate goodie bag at the ACMO/CCI Condo Conference in Toronto last November included a copy of our Condo Alert! newsletter.  That special conference edition featured a piece on recent court decisions about costs under section 134(5) of the Condo Act.   

Following on that theme, the Winter 2013 edition of our newsletter (distributed at the ACMO educational luncheons) includes further commentary on how courts are handling claims for those costs, and recaps our top 10 condo law cases of 2012.

We are now seeing a turning point in how courts award costs of Condo Act compliance cases. Condo boards and managers who aren’t aware of the new realities are at risk and the stakes are too high to be caught with your pants down. Staying ahead of the curve is downright essential, so download your free copies of the Condo Alert! today.

Given that the local groundhogs forecast an early spring this year, we’ve started work on the next season’s issue of the newsletter, to be released at the CCI Golden Horseshoe conference on April 27, 2013 in Hamilton. Let us know what other newsletter topics you’d like to read about.

Although they have been in force for nearly 12 years, the regulations under the Condominium Act, 1998 have been available in English only. Thanks to recent amendments, our Francophone confederates can now rejoice that those regs include a complete French language version.

On November 22, 2012, the Ontario government filed Regulations 383/12 and 384/12, which amended Regulations 48/01 (“General”) and 49/01 ("Description and Registration”) respectively.  

In addition to adding French versions of the Condo Act regs, the recent amendments were intended to correct typographical errors and improve accuracy.  Most notably, the General regulation is amended to include improved definitions of the various classes of reserve fund studies.  The Regulatory Registry webpage points out that: “These amendments do not change the policy or intent of the regulations.”

While it is good to see that the Condo Act regulations are being fine-tuned from time to time, we remain hopeful that more substantial revision of the Act and regs is not far away.

Bonne lecture!

Because we’ve been tardy in posting our microblog pieces lately, here is a super-duper bundle of condo-related decisions by Canadian courts and tribunals released since our last microblog compilation post on April 30, 2012.  

Enjoy these items while preparing chestnuts on an open file, but please be sure to exercise proper fire safety techniques.

COURT AND TRIBUNAL DECISIONS

ONCA: Tarion warranty rulings don’t preclude civil suits for condo construction defects (unless LAT decides appeal). http://canlii.ca/t/fv135 

ONSC avoids deciding whether proxies from condo meetings should be redacted before inspection by unit owners. http://canlii.ca/t/fv9fn 

ONSC awards partial costs on condo corp’s compliance application, setting up the owner for a big surprise later. http://canlii.ca/t/ftrpd 

ONCA: Consumer Protection Act applies to hot water heater rentals, affirms supplier’s liability for damages after leak. http://bit.ly/11jC0rp 

ONSC approves class action settlement re ThyssenKrupp elevator sheave jammers. Deadline for claims is March 29, 2013. canlii.ca/t/ftvp5 

ABQB appoints investigator at unit owner’s request when ineptitude of condo bd and mgmt amounts to “improper conduct.” http://bit.ly/JbbjeI 

Continue Reading Microblog posts to 12/24/2012 – Court and tribunal roundup

It’s time for our annual tradition of looking back at the past year of cases decided by Ontario courts and tribunals and highlighting a few noteworthy items.

Selecting this year’s batch is slightly trickier because we have not posted a microblog entry since late April 2012, but those readers following me on Twitter will have been kept up to date all along.  For those of you not following the live feed, I’ll post those items separately and will make it my new year’s resolution is to keep up those posts more frequently.

Here we go.  Drum roll, please!

10.       Pearson v. Carleton Condominium Corporation No. 178, 2012 ONSC 3300

Indemnification clauses contained in condo declarations, by-laws and rules do not permit condo corporations to recover (as common expenses) legal costs incurred in defending against small claims court actions brought by unit owners.  The court vacated a lien registered by the condo to secure collection of its legal costs incurred where the small claims court dismissed the unit owner’s action against the condo but did not award the condo any costs.

9.         York Condominium Corp. No. 42 v. Hashmi, 2012 ONSC 4533

After six years of court-appointed administration, the unit owners of YCC 42 voted overwhelmingly in favour of returning to self-governance but needed the court to give detailed directions on conducting the first election of directors.  Given that director elections are amply governed by the Condo Act and the corporation’s own by-laws, the fact that a court ruling was required does not bode well for this condo’s successful rehabilitation from administration.  Let us hope that these unit owners have learned the lesson to pay attention to the goings-on at their condo and, further, to ignore the siren song of “vote for me and I’ll reduce your condo fees” which brought this condo and others like it to the brink of disaster.

Continue Reading Top 10 condo law cases of 2012

The big news story in Ontario politics lately is the premier’s decision to step down and prorogue the legislature until a leadership convention is held to choose a new party leader. That leadership convention will take place in late January, just under three months from now. Until then, the legislature and its work is suspended and proposed legislation is effectively dead. Some have called the growing use of prorogation as an affront to democracy.

While prorogation has no immediately comparable concept in the condominium world, the failure to hold a condo annual general meeting (“AGM”) comes pretty close. There are few or no other things a condo board can do to thwart or frustrate unit owners’ democratic rights than deny the owners their statutory right to meet and receive the financial statements, appoint auditors and elect directors on a regular basis.

Continue Reading Prorogation and condominium democracy

Minister Margarett Best addresses the condo residents' panel.

While prorogation has brought legislative business at Queen’s Park to a screeching halt (and which helpfully killed Bills 72 and 95 that would amend the Condo Act in weird ways), readers will be glad to know that Ontario’s Condominium Act review and modernization process is steaming ahead.

At the cornerstone of this review process is the concept of collaborative public engagement, which is intended to solicit broad and direct input from citizens and the various stakeholders affected by the Condo Act. An important part of that process is the specially-chosen condo residents’ panel formed to discuss issues related to the Condo Act and provide advice on how to improve it. Panellists will work alongside a round-table of other condominium stakeholders to agree on a set of priority proposals for changing the Act.

From ten thousand randomly-selected Ontario condo dwellers who were initially invited to join the condo residents’ panel, 36 members were ultimately selected to achieve a balance of age, gender, geography, the number of years they have lived in a condominium, and the type of condo in which they live.

Continue Reading Condo residents’ panel hard at work while legislature prorogued

It is often said that we Canadians are among the best-insured (or most over-insured) people in the world. Our insurers have a special talent to devise and sell policies for virtually any situation or potential exposure and we who face those various risks are more than eager to snap them up. But when it comes to condominiums and the interplay between insurance policies held by condo corporations and unit owners, it seems that the insurers in British Columbia did not get the memo, leaving a gaping hole in coverage for unit owners.

CBC news reported last week that a Vancouver condo unit owner without proper insurance was left holding the bag for the $50,000 deductible payable under the condo’s insurance policy for a flood originating in his unit and causing damage to several units below. This is a typical situation and tales of condo unit owners not carrying sufficient insurance are hardly newsworthy. The bankruptcy lines have always included people who failed to understand their potential exposure or who mistakenly figured they could save a few dollars on premiums. Unlucky under-insured condo unit owners in Ontario have felt that sting for over 20 years and many have consequently lost their homes.

The premise of a more recent Vancouver Sun piece is one that we have written about on this blog before, namely that condo unit owners must ensure that they carry proper insurance with reasonable maximums. On that issue, the Sun asked a Vancouver insurance broker for the easy answer to the common problem facing unit owners:

The solution is to make sure your own unit insurance covers the strata deductible. Rees said he pays $20 a year for such coverage, which is worth $100,000.

While definitely helpful for people to know, this concept is not particularly newsworthy either. The story goes on, however, to challenge the long-time notion of us Canadians being so well-insured:

But not all companies will provide that kind of coverage, said Lindsay de Craene of the InsureBC Group.

For example, she said, only two insurers provide such coverage in downtown Vancouver, where there are seven condo complexes carrying a deductible of $100,000, 19 with a $50,000 deductible and one with a $150,000 deductible.

Continue Reading Insurers prefer law reform over peddling insurance: Has Hell frozen over?

Anyone visiting our office knows that we at GMA are big fans of adorning our walls with exquisite art, most of it painted by Bob Gardiner’s dad, the late Perce M. Gardiner. 

In keeping with his role of curator of our office/musem, Bob offers this short update on a new posting requirement imposed by the Ministry of Labour, now in force at workplaces across Ontario. 

While the government-mandated posters are hardly masterpieces, no workplace is complete without them.

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Continue Reading New OHSA workplace poster now mandatory

Although the season has officially ended, the summer 2012 edition of our newsletter is now available for download.

Featured in this issue is Syed Ahmed’s article on employee termination pay, a topic that confounds many condo managers and boards.

Also featured is Bob Gardiner’s updated model Owners’ Code of Ethics.  This is a worthwhile piece. If all condo unit owners followed Bob’s suggested wisdom, the most common types of condo disputes would disappear and we condo lawyers would have a lot more free time on our hands.  Condo managers, boards and owners would likewise benefit from the reduction in dramatic but entirely needless, pointless squabbles. Feel free to distribute this code to your unit owners and consider implementing it as a policy at your condominium.  

Keep your eyes peeled for our next issue of Condo Alert, to be released at the annual ACMO/CCI Condo Conference on November 2 and 3, 2012. Remember to take advantage of early bird conference registration by October 1, 2012 and special pricing for student condo managers and condo directors.

The Ministry of Consumer Services is holding info sessions for the province’s Condo Act review over the coming weeks in cities near you.

The first session will be held in Toronto this week.  Deets are below.

Our friends at @WB_Condo tweet that further sessions are planned for September 19 in Mississauga and September 27 in Ottawa.  More dates to come.