Condominium Management Law Blog

Are Changes Coming to the Condominium Act, 1998?

byMichelle Kelly

As you may have heard, the Ontario government is proposing amendments to the Condominium Act, 1998, and its regulations as part of Bill 91, Less Red Tape, Stronger Economy Act, 2023. It repeals the temporary amendments put in place during the pandemic to make it easier for condominiums to hold meetings virtually without by-laws and use electronic communications without the consent of owners. The temporary amendments are currently set to expire on September 30, 2023. In this post we briefly summarize the key changes for condominiums. 

Board Meetings

The temporary amendments during the pandemic removed the requirement for all directors to consent to telephonic or electronic forms of meetings for board meetings. These amendments would become permanent with the proposed changes to section 35 of the Act. This means the majority of the board could call a virtual or hybrid meeting even if one member does not consent. However, the by-laws can limit the types of telephonic or electronic means used and add requirements for holding these types of meetings. Meeting by email will continue to be prohibited as the method used must allow directors to communicate “simultaneously and instantaneously”. 

Owners Meetings

Virtual or hybrid meetings will be permitted using “telephonic or electronic” means without the need to pass a by-law authorizing these types of meetings. The means used must allow all persons in attendance to “reasonably participate”. I’m guessing this was included to address situations where boards held meetings virtually using webinar mode and refused to take questions from owners during the meeting. (Is anyone actually surprised this was not an acceptable way to conduct an owners meeting?). 

 

Voting using telephonic or electronic means will remain an option without the need to pass a by-law. The amendments also clarify that attending virtually or casting a telephonic or electronic vote (including before or during the meeting) means the person is “present” for the purposes of the Act, like counting toward quorum. 

 

Instead of passing by-laws to authorize these types of telephonic and electronic meetings and voting, condominiums could pass by-laws to restrict the use of virtual or hybrid meetings or electronic or telephonic voting and adding specific requirements.


Electronic Communications

It also seems the proposed amendments would allow condominiums to communicate with owners and mortgagees without their written consent. Say goodbye to the Agreement to Receive Electronic Notices! 

 

The Act would be amended to require the record of owners and mortgagees to include any prescribed information, like email addresses provided by owners. Email addresses for all owners would become the address for service with the owner needing to opt-out if they prefer other forms of communication. 

 

Like with the other changes, the condominium could pass by-laws to prevent the giving of notice by electronic means or set out additional requirements for using electronic means to communicate with owners. 

 

The Ontario government is seeking feedback on the proposed amendments. You can download the documents and provide your feedback (by May 3, 2023) here: https://www.ontariocanada.com/registry/view.do?postingId=44270&language=en The proposed amendments would come into force on October 1, 2023, so there would be no gap between when the current temporary amendments end and the new legislation comes into force. 

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