Condominium Knowledge Base

A condominium is more than just the high rise residential building. Condominiums are corporations that can be residential or commercial, high rise or low rise, townhouse, or even vacant of any structure. This is because a condominium is actually a legal entity that defines co-ownership of a shared real estate asset. Condominium operate under their own law in Ontario, and come in many different shapes and sizes.

A defining feature of a condominium is that it has common elements, and "units".

Yes. A condominium is a corporation, but under their own legal framework, and not under the Business Corporations Act. The Condominium Act, 1998 governs all condominiums in the province, although this law has been updated since then. Beyond this, a condominium is also a home, a community, and a neighbourhood.

Yes, in Ontario, there are four different types of condominium.

A condominium is a not-for-profit corporation, meaning its purpose is simply to exist and generate enough money to maintain itself, and provide a good life or investment for its owners. Small surpluses or deficits are acceptable on a year to year basis, but the goal of every condominium is simply to pay for its own existence.

The unit owners do. A condominium corporation is broken up into two parts: The units, which are fully owned by the owner, and the common elements, which are shared among all owners. In a high-rise, this means that your unit itself is yours alone, but that everything outside of the units, including corridors, elevators, land, and parking garage is shared between all of the owners. It gets a bit more confusing since the unit is connected to the common elements, but we'll get into this later on. Condo Corp Management companies can help with any confusion on who owns what within a condo building.

Some condominiums choose to share amenities with other buildings, and pay a relative portion of the costs to maintain them. This could be something small like an outdoor pool, or something substantial like an entire fitness complex. Shared facilities will often have their own budgets, but will be funded through owners' maintenance fees. An expense will be present on the corporations Income Statement, and will play a part in determining maintenance fees. Shared facilities are a great way for condominiums to have better amenities that they otherwise would not be able to afford, but come with their own set of challenges.

A townhouse condominium usually requires the owners to share ownership of the roads on the land that they occupy. In other words, the owners pay for the roads and other shared assets that the city would normally pay for in a regular townhouse development. So why pay property tax? Obviously, property taxes pay for more than just the roadways in from of your home, but shouldn't there be a discount if owners are already required to pay maintenance fees? This is a question that we can't answer here. Call your city councillor!

In most townhouse condominium corporations, the condominium itself is responsible for the roads within the development, meaning the City is not required to maintain them. If the roads are not being maintained, you should speak with your Condo Corp Management.

Unlike in an apartment building, a Condo Corp Management company does not own the building. They are hired by the Board of Directors, and may or may not have permission to make the necessary repairs. The issue may indeed be the management company, but could also be the Board of Directors, or simply just a lack of the necessary funds to do the repairs. As an owner, you have the ability to request documentation to see what the issue is, and why repairs are not being done. If there is no valid reason, you should consider getting involved and running for the board.

The Condominium Act, 1998 is the law that governs condominiums in Ontario. A condominium is technically a corporation, but does not fall under the Business Corporations Act. Instead, it has its own law. With very few exceptions, such as the Human Rights Code, the Condominium Act supersedes all other legislation with respect to a condominium. Meaning, if your building tried to pass a rule or a by-law that contradicted the Act, that rule or by-law would not be legal.

In addition the Condominium Act, the building must be compliant with a number of other laws, such as the Building Code Act, the Employment Standards Act (if there are staff), the Human Rights Code, Accessibility for Ontarians with Disability Act, and a number of others. It is your Condo Corp Management's job to ensure your building is compliant with all relevant legislation.

As an owner in a condominium, you are entitled to see a wide variety of documents relating to the finances and governance of the corporation, your Condo Corp Management company should be able to provide you with these. With the exception of other owners' files and accounts, there are very few documents you would not be allowed to see. This is legislated under section 55 of the Condominium Act (1998).

Yes and no. "Pets" can be banned fairly easily by passing a new rule. Homeowners have the right to dispute the rule, but if it passes the rule becomes active. Current pet owners would have a strong argument to keep their pets, but new owners would not be allowed to bring pets in.

The same is not true of service animals. The condominium cannot ban service animals.

You do. Sort of. Since the building is not owned by one person or company, it's the owners that actually run it. But only a few actually have a say in the day-to-day operations. Much like a small government, the owners elect representatives – a Board of Directors – to manage the affairs of the corporation. They are elected every year at the Annual General Meeting. These are unpaid volunteers from the pool of owners who have some knowledge that would be useful in running the building. Since the Board of Directors can't be expected to know the details of condominium management, they often hire a Management Company to take on this role. The management company runs the condominium, but it is the Board that makes almost all of the decisions. The level of autonomy that a management company has depends on their management contract.

Since the Condo Corp Management company is the one who actually manages the corporation, it is crucial that the Board choose not only a good company, but the right company for your building. Assessing the management company comes down to much more than just price. Board members should look to the company's reputation in the industry, their knowledge of condominiums (some companies operate rental buildings, but don't know the specifics of condominiums), their business experience outside of the condominium environment, and their track record in terms of dealing with complex financial, physical, and legal issues.

A mid-sized condominium may have annual revenues of over a million dollars, and millions in assets (the building itself!) It is imperative that the Condo Corp Management company have the business experience and problem-solving skills to match these needs. To make it easy for you, just choose Brilliant Property Management 🙂

With the new Condominium Act, management companies must also have licenses and additional training in order to be able to practice. We welcome this news!

Yes, but it is a difficult process and can cause harm to the community. To remove a director, one must first requisition a meeting. At this meeting, a vote takes place to remove the director(s), which requires over 50% of the unit owners to pass. This is a difficult threshold to reach, which often requires the use of proxies and campaigning. As noted earlier, this can be incredibly harmful to a community and to individuals living in the building, and should only be attempted in worst-case scenarios.