Bill 106, the Protecting Condominium Owners Act has passed 2nd reading in legislature and has been referred to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs.
Further details on the proposed legislation can be found here: https://www.ontario.ca/page/proposed-condo-changes
To view the current status of the proposed legislation visit: http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&BillID=3399&detailPage=bills_detail_status
Are you wondering where each political party stands on Bill 106? Source: http://www.canadianunderwriter.ca/news/proposed-ontario-condo-authority-lacks-adequate-oversight-opposition/1003836671/?&er=NA
If passed into law, the legislation would “clarify and standardize the circumstances when an owner would be required to pay an amount up to the corporation’s deductible with respect to property damage,” said Chris Ballard, parliamentary secretary to government and consumer services minister David Orazietti, during a debate last month.
“If an owner causes damage to a unit, the common elements or any assets of a corporation, an amount, up to a maximum of the corporation’s insurance deductible, is added to the contribution to the common expenses payable by the owner, subject only to a declaration amendment,” the government stated in an explanatory note on Bill 106.
The Liberals are also proposing to create an organization that would function as a condominium dispute resolution centre.
With Bill 106, the Liberals propose to create a “licensing authority to administer the licensing and regulation of condo managers and establish minimum qualifications and mandatory training standards,” Orazietti said during an earlier debate on the bill.
“It creates a specialized body which will be able to resolve disputes that may take place within a condominium,” Yasir Naqvi, government house leader and Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, told the legislature Tuesday at Queen’s Park in Toronto. “It takes the pressure away from our court system; it helps resolve condo issues in a low-cost manner; and it really puts a focus on not having an adversarial, litigious process but a process that is more driven through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms like mediation.”
If the bill is passed into law, then corporations, owners, mortgagees and purchasers would be able to apply to the new Condominium Authority Tribunal for resolution of certain disputes. It would not have authority to hear disputes on ownership or liens. The tribunal would have exclusive jurisdiction to exercise its powers and appeals on questions of law would go to Divisional Court.
The proposed condominium authority would have the power to collect fees from condominium corporations, said Laurie Scott, Progressive Conservative MPP for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock. Those fees, she suggested Tuesday, would be passed down to individual condo unit owners.
“It begs the question as to why condo owners are expected to pay for this authority and for property managers’ licensing when they are employees of property management firms,” she said. “As owners, they’re going to have to absorb a lot of costs with this newly delegated authority, so we have to be sure we get it right.”
The bill also leaves a “gap” in dispute resolution, said Jagmeet Singh, the New Democratic Party’s critic for government and consumer services.
“While we’re seeing an improvement in terms of having a dispute resolution mechanism – that’s good – but it doesn’t provide for a mechanism to address other disputes beyond just the condominium board,” added Singh, MPP for Bramalea-Gore-Malton. Owners and residents also have disputes with condominium builders and developers, Singh noted.
“So that area has been left unaddressed by this bill,” Singh claimed.
NDP members spoke partly in favour of the bill.
“Condo owners will benefit from greater training and assistance for condo board directors; and the owners will have more power to see important corporation documents, to request meetings and to ensure that large expenditures do not occur without consultation or notification of the owners,” Lisa Gretzky, NDP MPP for Windsor West, said Tuesday.
However, the licensing and adjudicative body “seems awfully weak in accountability and transparency,” Scott said Tuesday.
Bill 106 proposes to give the auditor-general the authority to audit the condominium authority, but “this delegated administrative authority has little reporting mechanisms back” to the legislature, Scott added.
In Bill 106, the Liberals also want to expand the criteria for condominium corporation directors to include disclosure obligations and required training.
“Protection from liability for directors and officers is expanded to cover cases where the individual relies in good faith on a report or opinion of a reserve fund study provider,” the government stated in its explanatory note.
Special Assessments. Does Bill 106 deal exactly with what can and cannot be included in a Special Assessment. For example, can a item deemed to be a “luxury”, e.g. a swimming pool, be included.
Bill 106 does contemplate changes to the way that budgets are managed by Condominium Corporations however, much of the details of same will be released in the regulations at a future date.
“If the board proposes that the corporation incur a prescribed expense in a fiscal year that exceeds, in the manner determined by the regulations, the budgeted amount for the expense in the applicable budget or amendment to a budget for that fiscal year, the board shall provide the prescribed notice of the expense to the owners within the prescribed time and in accordance with the prescribed requirements.”