Windows may be yours to clean, repair
Declaration decides if owner or building is responsible
The board has sent an edict that the corporation will be responsible for washing only the inaccessible windows. We owners don’t own the outside of our units and we all pay condo fees for maintenance. How can the board refuse responsibility for washing windows that are accessible from our balconies?
The windows in highrise condos are invariably designated as common elements and the Condo Act states that common element maintenance is the obligation of the corporation. However, maintenance and repair obligations, as set out in the Act as between the corporation and the unit owners, may be amended in the declaration — although the owners cannot be made responsible for repairing the common elements. Your declaration may provide that the owners will maintain the windows that are accessible from each owner’s balcony.
If the declaration does not say that, the obligation to wash the outside of the windows remains with the corporation. But since the boundary of each unit likely is the interior surface of the windows, the obligation to clean the interior surfaces of the windows rests with the unit owners. I replaced the lock on the entrance door to my unit which broke and I advised management that I would provide them with a copy of the key. Management advised that they require a lock that works with their master key and that such a lock must be installed at my expense. Can they do this?
The entrance doors to highrise units are invariably common elements and are not part of the units. That means that an owner cannot change the common element lock without first getting the board’s approval and entering into an agreement with the corporation, pursuant to Section 98 of the Condominium Act. If those steps are not taken, including the board’s consent to the common element alteration, the corporation could require you to replace the original lock.
You could return the original, broken lock to the door and then require the corporation to replace it, at their expense, if the lock is part of the common elements. Under the Condominium Act common element repairs are and must remain, the obligation of the corporation.
If the lock was broken because of an act or omission by you, or someone residing in your unit, the declaration could require you to cover the corporation for the costs in replacing the lock. One of our directors moved away and the term for another expired. Two directors were not elected but were appointed by the board to fill vacancies. We have been unsuccessful in getting the board to call an owners’ meeting to fill the vacancies. Are they not obligated to do so?
If a director’s term expired at an annual general meeting, the owners at the AGM will elect a replacement. Otherwise, provided that there is a quorum, the board may continue to operate without filing the vacancies. The two appointees are directors for all purposes, including a determination as to whether there is a quorum. If there is not a quorum the directors cannot appoint replacements to fill the vacancies and the remaining directors are required within 30 days of the quorum being lost to call a meeting of owners to elect candidates to fill the vacancies. If owners want to change a bylaw to have five directors instead of three what is the process?
A new bylaw should be passed amending the existing bylaw. The new bylaw must be passed by an affirmative vote of owners owning a majority of the units at an owners’ meeting called for that purpose. Lawyer Gerry Hyman is a former president of the Canadian Condominium Institute and author of Condominium Handbook. Send questions to gerry@gerryhyman.com or fax to his attention at 416-925-8492.