Coming January 1, 2020...
[caption id="attachment_media-75" align="alignnone" width="1880"] Photo by brotiN biswaS on Pexels.com[/caption]
We are still early into the Fall season, but there have already been a few announcements about changes coming January 1, 2020. More changes are expected to be announced, but here's what we know so far.
Condo Authority of Ontario (CAO)
The CAO announced that it will again have a 25% reduction in its fee for the 2020-2021 year. The fee will be $0.75/month per voting unit. The annual fee was initially set at $1/month per voting unit, but the costs to operate the CAO have been less than initially projected (in part because the CAT's jurisdiction has not been expanded as originally anticipated under the previous government).
(Note: the Government of Ontario has proposed making the CAO responsible for 19 of the prescribed forms under the Act and its regulations, including information certificates, preliminary and notice of meeting, proxy, and forms related to record requests. These changes could take effect as early as January 1, 2020. Stay tuned on this one as it hasn't been confirmed yet!).
Court Changes
The Government of Ontario announced some key changes to the court system in Ontario. The changes are aimed at increasing access to justice, reducing legal costs, and making the process quicker. On January 1, 2020 we will see the following changes:
- Increase in the monetary limit for Small Claims Court from $25,000 to $35,000.
- Increase in the monetary limit for Simplified Procedure actions in the Superior Court of Justice from $100,000 to $200,000.
- Other changes designed to reduce costs and speed up the process.