Owners' Meetings

by Audrey Loeb

Changes to the Act will affect how we all do business. The first point that everyone needs to recognize is that the amendments to the Act are bare bones. The meat is in the regulations. They are long. They are complicated. In my view it will take quite a bit of time before the condominium industry will feel comfortable with them.

Notice for Meetings

The procedure for preparing and completing notice of meetings are changing. Boards will now have to follow a two step procedure. The first is to give a Preliminary Notice of any meeting to owners informing them that a meeting is going to be held. The second is the Notice of Meeting itself. The Act continues to place the obligation on the owners and mortgagees to provide the condominium corporation with the prescribed information, such as changes in ownership.

The Preliminary Notice of a Meeting

A Preliminary Notice of meeting must now be delivered, in a form prescribed in the regulations. The Preliminary Notice of a meeting should, in our view, be given at least 20 days before the Notice of Meeting. It must state the nature of the business to be dealt with at the meeting. For example if the meeting is to elect board members, the notice must state the number of board members, the number of vacancies, the terms of directors to be elected, if any positions are reserved for voting by owner occupants and a copy of S.29(1) of the Act and S.11.6 of O. Reg. 180/17.

The Preliminary Notice must ask Owners if any of them wishes to stand for election to the board and indicate how and when candidacy and disclosure information are to be delivered to the corporation. If a candidate provides notice of his or her intention to run for the board, the mandatory disclosure for director candidates (which is a prescribed form) must be delivered in writing to the board.
The particulars of the Preliminary Notice are set out in S.12.2 of O. Reg. 180/17. If the corporation's by-laws include any additional requirements they must also be complied with.

The Preliminary Notice of a Meeting must also ask if owners wish to add any materials to the Notice of Meeting. The board is required to add materials to the Notice of Meeting if the request has been signed by owners of 15% of the units, and is otherwise compliant with the Act and the regulations. However, if owners ask to have something added to the meeting agenda, the board has the authority to decide if it wishes to comply with the request.

We do not know what the effect of not properly completing the Preliminary Notice for a meeting will be on the business to be conducted at the meeting. We will have to wait and see.

Notice of Meeting

The Notice of Meeting cannot be delivered until 16 days have passed since the Preliminary Notice of the meeting was given. This notice will also be in a form prescribed under the regulations. We, however, recommend allowing additional time between the date that candidates must supply their names and materials are delivered to be added to the agenda and the delivery of the Notice of Meeting.

The Notice of Meeting is deliverable in the same way as notices are currently under s. 47. Owners and mortgagees can be served electronically if they consent to this by completing a prescribed form. Additional materials, as prescribed in the regulations, will also have to be included in the Notice of Meeting (such as a statement of quorum for the transaction of business at the meeting and other items). S.12.8 of O. Reg 180/17 lists the additional information that must accompany a Notice of Meeting.