Repairs, maintenance main issues in current condo law

Repairs, maintenance main issues in current condo law

December 31, 2007

The Ontario government’s move to consult the public and stakeholders on the problems and potential solutions facing the condominium industry will hopefully result in better legislation that will stand the test of time, Toronto condominium lawyer Armand Conant writes in Lawyers Weekly.

“Ontario, and especially the GTA, has experienced explosive growth in residential condominiums over the last 15 years. Today there are about 9,000 residential condominium corporations with 600,000 units housing more than 1.3 million people. Much has changed since the act was enacted in 2001 (after being drafted in the 1990s),” writes Conant, partner with Shibley Righton LLP.

In its review of the legislation, which began in September 2012, the government decided to try a new process, writes Conant, beginning with broad-based public consultation, rather than drafting legislation first and then circulating it for input.

Stage one of the process, he says, consisted of a residents panel and a roundtable stakeholders committee, which led to a report published in March 2013.

“Stage two consisted of five working groups comprised of industry experts and condo owners, each focusing on one of the five themes in the review process: consumer protection, governance, finance, licensing of property managers, and dispute resolution. These working groups reviewed the various problems in the industry and proposed solutions,” writes Conant.

At that point, he explains, an experts panel was created, with a mandate to review the reports from the working groups and prepare a draft report called the Stage Two Solutions Report. The report was reviewed and validated in stage three and published in September 2013.

Conant says that many substantial changes to the legislation have been made, with the most significant being to create a new arm’s-length condominium office with its main responsibilities including education and information to owners, purchasers, directors and others, dispute resolution and a condo registry.

“This office has been endorsed by the participants in the reform process, but how it will be funded must still be finalized,” he says.

Last summer, he adds, the Minister of Consumer Services also said the government will proceed with the regulation, education and licensing of condo property managers.

Conant tells AdvocateDaily.com that committee hearings, travelling road shows across the province and technical working groups to discuss the legislation have taken place in recent months. However, he adds, the recent provincial election has held up the introduction of the legislation, with the hope that the two new bills will now be re-introduced early in the fall.