Proposed Amendments to the Condominium Act, 1998 Respecting a Condo Guide
The content below has been extracted from an email newsflash sent from the Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services on July 14th, 2020.
The Ministry of Government and Consumer Services is proposing that amendments to the Condominium Act, 1998 (Condo Act) respecting a “condominium guide” (condo guide) be proclaimed into force, effective December 1, 2020. That includes the definition of “condominium guide” in subsection 1(1) as well as section 71.1 and changes to subsections 72(1), 72(2), 73(1), 73(2) and 161(1).
The Condo Act sets out rights and responsibilities relating to condominium corporations, including certain rights and responsibilities of condo developers, purchasers, owners, mortgagees, residents and condo corporations and their boards.
Bringing the above-noted provisions into force is intended to, among other things, beginning on December 1, 2020:
Ensure that a plain-language condo guide is prepared that would set out information for purchasers, information about the rights and responsibilities of owners, occupiers and condo boards, and other matters as the Minister considers appropriate.
Allow the Minister to require the condo guide to be prepared by the Condominium Authority of Ontario (CAO).
Require declarants (e.g., developers) to provide the condo guide, along with other disclosure documents currently required, to prospective purchasers of pre-construction condominiums.
Ensure that any agreement of purchase and sale of a unit or a proposed unit entered into by a declarant or a person acting on behalf of or for the benefit of the declarant is not binding on the purchaser until the declarant has delivered to the purchaser a copy of the condo guide, in addition to a copy of the current disclosure statement, as required.
The CAO is a private not-for-profit corporation operating at arm's length from the government, managed by an independent board of directors and self-finance from assessments paid by condominium corporations and from fees for certain services. The CAO provides information about condos for prospective purchasers and other members of the public on its website, including CAO's Condo Buyer’s Guide, but this information is not currently required to be provided by declarants to purchasers at the point of purchase.
The ministry will be providing the CAO with a table of contents for the condo guide that outlines some core tenets of buying and living in a condo. The proposed guide is intended primarily for prospective purchasers of pre-construction condos, but also would contain information relevant to prospective purchasers of resale condos.
In anticipation of bringing these changes into effect for December 1, 2020, the ministry welcomes feedback on:
The ministry’s proposal to proclaim into force the definition of “condominium guide” in subsection 1(1) as well as section 71.1 and changes to subsections 72(1), 72(2), 73(1), 73(2) and 161(1) of the Condo Act effective December 1, 2020;
The attached proposed table of contents of the condo guide; and
Whether the ministry should set out in the regulations when a person is or is not deemed to be “a person acting on behalf of or for the benefit of the declarant,” which is a phrase used in the unproclaimed ss. 72 (1)-(2), and if so, what that regulation should say.
You can find the ministry’s public Regulatory Registry posting on this proposal here: https://www.ontariocanada.com/registry/view.do?postingId=33587&language=en