How do you deal with changes in your condo community?
Are you someone who can easily and calmly navigate new ways, or do you find change scary and/or frustrating?
With the many recent changes affecting the condominium industry in 2018, including cannabis legalization, mandatory director training and electronic voting and proxies, 2019 promises to be a year full of learning curves.
Here’s what you need to know to implement these new developments as smoothly as possible in your condo community.
The Legalization of Cannabis and Its Impact on Condo Living
On October 17, 2018, newly implemented federal and provincial legislation made it legal to use, possess and produce cannabis for recreational purposes in residences. Being able to smoke cannabis wherever tobacco was previously smoked was feared to create potential issues as a condo property manager or condo Board member – namely deep concerns with odour and air quality.
Ensuring your building’s fan coil units are in good condition can help minimize odour complaints. It’s even possible that you can eliminate the problem altogether by banning smoking cannabis in your building. Condo Boards are well within their rights to ban residents from smoking in common areas and/or individual units. These bans are made effective by creating a rule, upon which condo Board members vote upon.
Although most medical reasons for smoking cannabis must be accommodated (unless undue hardship can be proven), smoking cannabis can be banned from residential units, balconies or terraces.
Section 58 of the Condo Act outlines the Process Required to Make, Amend or Repeal a Rule Related to Cannabis.
Are the residents of your condo building satisfied with the rules set in place for cannabis use?
Opportunity for Electronic Voting in Condo Buildings
Recent Condominium Act changes presented new ways that condominium owners can participate in the governance of their corporation.
For one, a Prescribed Proxy was introduced to replace paper-based proxy forms. Using a form with standardized proxy language and inclusion of signature fields will help prevent proxy fraud and proxy tampering.
Electronic voting is also now permissible if a corporation first passes a bylaw to adopt its use,. Upon passing, owners can attend meetings and/or vote electronically. The introduction of this change will help condominiums better obtain a quorum needed to conduct owners’ meetings.
Newly Implemented Condo Director Education
The newly implemented Condominium Director Training is a mandatory online course consisting of 21 modules.
In approximately four hours, the course is designed to provide current and future directors with an understanding of condominium governance and the role of directors. The course can be completed at a leisurely pace with participants able to stop and start when necessary.
We at Canadian Design & Construction (CDC) pride ourselves on remaining knowledgeable about the latest changes affecting the condo industry. Doing so ensures that each and every condo renovation project that we complete meets all relevant standards and legislation.
Are you planning to complete a Parking Garage Waterproofing and Restoration, Common Elements Refurbishment, Fan Coil Maintenance and Replacement and/or Kitec Plumbing Replacement project at your condo building this year? If so, we can help. Check out our website for a full listing of services that we provide to condo communities.
By Sarah McKenzie