The New Owner Occupied Position

Another interesting change coming is the replacement of the owner-occupied position on the board with the reserved position for owners of non-leased voting units. The term non-leased voting unit doesn't seem much clearer than owner-occupied position, but maybe the change will reduce confusion about who is eligible to vote for the position (as opposed to who can be a candidate for the position).  A non-leased voting unit is one where the unit is entitled to vote for the removal or election of a reserved position on the board. The unit must be used for residential purposes, and not subject to a lease (as determined by the regulations). If the meeting is a requisition meeting, the unit must not be subject to a lease within the 60 days before the board receives the requisition. For all other meetings, the unit must not be leased within the 60 days before the board delivers the preliminary notice to owners. Besides the name, the circumstances where the position will be required are also changing. To reserve a position for voting by non-leased voting units there must be at least one non-leased voting unit in the condominium and a minority of the units must be non-leased voting units. This means that if 50% or more of the units are occupied by the owners there is no position reserved for the non-leased voting units. If, however, less than 50% are occupied by the owners the position may be required. It appears that the position is only required if an owner requests it. When the condominium sends out a pre-notice of a meeting where elections are taking place it must include certain information about the positions to be voted upon. In the case of vacancies in the reserved position, the condominium must include a copy of the definition of "non-leased voting unit" along with subsections 51(5) and (6) which describe the position. The pre-notice must also request that candidates notify, in writing, the board of their intention by a date specified in the notice. Within 15 days of the date that the corporation sends the pre-notice of the meeting to the owners an owner of a non-leased voting unit may deliver to the board a statement confirming that his/her unit is a non-leased voting unit and requesting that the non-leased voting position be voted upon at the meeting. This seems to suggest that there will be no reserved position where a non-leased voting unit owner does not request a vote within the 15 days after the pre-notice is sent to owners. This could make voting much easier at many condominiums where the owner-occupied position was unnecessary.