There is no doubt that having effective property management not only ensures present enjoyment of property but preserves its future value.  So what happens when a condominium gets to a certain state where property management refuses to manage? Unfortunately, one 44-unit condominium corporation in Saskatchewan is dealing with this very unusual situation.  One owner said it’s “like living in a war zone” while another owner sold his unit for a $70,000 loss.  Many units remain…

As many of you may be aware, the Condominium Authority Tribunal (“CAT”) expanded its jurisdiction on October 1, 2020. Part of its expansion includes dealing with disputes related to pets. There are instances in which a condominium corporation may have to deal with a resident who decides to bring a pet into a no-pet building or a pet that weighs in excess of the permitted weight restrictions in a corporation’s governing documents. There may be…

Many of us anticipated that we would soon hear about amendments to the Condominium Act to  remove the requirements for Virtual Meeting and Electronic Voting By-laws and for obtaining owner consents to receive electronic notices.   We were eagerly awaiting the announcement before the end of the May 31, 2021 deadline. It now looks as if we have to continue to wait to see whether there will be more permanent changes to the legislation after December…

Even in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, many regular safety inspections in condos must continue. These inspections are required under the Fire Code and other legislation. Sometimes inspections are required to be conducted in low-traffic common areas such as roofs, boiler rooms and other mechanical rooms. Other times the devices that require attention and inspection are within the units, for example, smoke alarms. Residents must allow access to perform and document this basic safety…

The Government of Ontario is stepping in to shield certain entities from civil liability arising from COVID-19. On November 20, 2020, the province passed the Supporting Ontario’s Recovery and Municipal Elections Act, 2020  (the “Act”). The legislation offers liability protection to any legal entity or person that makes a “good faith effort” to act in accordance with public health guidelines or applicable laws regarding COVID-19. “Good faith effort” is defined in the Act as an “honest…

An interesting decision was released March 19, 2021, involving two condo owners who refused to wear masks in their condo due to “medical reasons”.  In Halton Condominium Corporation No. 77 v. Mitrovic, although the corporation was successful in obtaining a compliance order against the owners and a permanent injunction mandating those owners to wear a mask, the Court carved out an exception for “egress and ingress by the most direct route from their unit to…

A 32-unit Regina, Saskatchewan-based condo corporation recently made a $25,000 investment in Bitcoin, through the cryptocurrency platform Kraken. The board of directors has also set aside $700 to make future monthly Bitcoin purchases. It can be a tempting investment opportunity, especially with the value of Bitcoin outperforming gold in 2020 by more than 150% [Source: coindesk.com/bitcoin-prices-in-2020-heres-what-happened]. You may recall when Tesla CEO Elon Musk made headlines in February with his $1.5 billion purchase of…