There are limited circumstances where directors of condominium corporations can be personally liable for oppressive conduct under Condominium Act, 1998.

In a recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision, the declarant (also a unit owner at a vacant land condominium corporation) sued the condominium corporation and the individual directors.  The allegations of oppressive conduct by the condo and directors included exaggerating construction deficiencies and not repairing them at the same time, implementing rules that impeded the declarant’s ability to rent units and adding these issues to status certificates (among other allegations). The condo corporation brought a motion to throw out the claim against the individual directors under the rules of the court.

The court threw out the claim against the individual directors because:

  • the declarant did not provide sufficient particulars as to what each individual director is alleged to have done, as differentiated from the condo corporation’s alleged conduct; and
  • the alleged conduct of the individual directors did not result in any personal benefit or increase their control in any way; and
  • there was no reasonable basis in the claim for the court to decide whether the alleged oppression could be rectified by a monetary order against the directors personally.

Continue Reading No oppression claim against directors personally unless a director instigates the conduct

Condo directors in Ontario are expected to exercise a certain degree of attentiveness, caution and prudence while carrying out their duties. This expectation is known as the “standard of care” and is set out in section 37(1) of the Condominium Act, 1998, which provides:

37.  (1)  Every director and every officer of a corporation in exercising the powers and discharging the duties of office shall,

(a) act honestly and in good faith; and

(b) exercise the care, diligence and skill that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in comparable circumstances.

While the wording of this standard of care seems pretty simple, some directors don’t entirely understand what it means.  A recent Superior Court case illustrates that some directors don’t understand it at all, or don’t care.
Continue Reading A reasonably prudent director

We published a piece last May recommending that condominium corporations enact policies to collect common expenses in an orderly, systematic way. Unfortunately, we continue to see condo boards deliberately delaying the commencement of power of sale proceedings on liened units. Such delay brings added cost, wasted board time, greater hardship on unit owners in trouble and cash flow disruptions.

Aside from poorly-informed boards of self-managed condos, a major cause of problem collections is management agreements requiring the board to instruct management to commence power of sale proceedings on liened units. Whatever the reason behind such clauses, none is compelling and the concept is hopelessly flawed. We say:
Continue Reading Common expense collections policy redux

While the Condominium Act, 1998 permits owners to requisition meetings for certain business and for informational purposes, there are limits on what can be accomplished using this process.

Some owners at one of our smaller condo corporation clients recently submitted a requisition to amend the corporation’s general by-law to increase the size of the board from 3 to 7 directors and impose a new qualification that only owners are eligible to be directors.   For the reasons that follow, this is business that cannot be requisitioned by owners.
Continue Reading Owners cannot requisition by-law amendments

IOUSome of the most uncomfortable conversations that condo directors, managers and lawyers have with unit owners take place when owners cannot afford the monthly common expenses for their unit. While it is natural to show compassion to someone in trouble, significant problems and potential liabilities arise by delaying prompt collection action.

Ontario condominium corporations have one the strongest statutory debt collection mechanisms in the world. They can collect every single penny of common expenses in priority to most other creditors so long as the required notices are properly completed, given on time and a certificate of lien is registered on title within 90 days of default. The rules are fairly simple but the slightest slip in the paperwork or missing a deadline by a single day jeopardizes the condo’s priority and ability to collect the entire debt quickly.Continue Reading Policy prescription for pain-free collections

With rulings like this one, our courts tell us that the days of condo boards running roughshod over owners’ rights without consequences are drawing to a close. Directors who fail to heed this warning risk their fortunes.
Continue Reading Directors personally responsible for costs of litigation to quash owners’ rights