Can the board stop a shade installation?
I need to protect myself from the sun, having recently been diagnosed with a skin disease. I want to have a roller sun shade installed on my balcony, which receives sun most of every afternoon. Can the board forbid me from having the shade installed?
The Condominium Act requires the corporation’s consent to an addition, alteration or improvement to the common elements — which includes your balcony.
The Human Rights Code, however, requires the condominium corporation to accommodate your disability. The Code has priority over the Condominum Act. Your cancer is a disability and the shade appears to be a reasonable accommodation which the board must allow. The board may require medical evidence of the cancer. If you provide it and your request is refused, you might make a complaint under the Human Rights Code. Our condo has a $62,000 deficit. The board of directors has levied a special assessment of one month’s common expenses against the units. Payment is required and, if late, a $25 fee will be charged. Can the board do this? Yes. The board is entitled to levy a special assessment for funds needed to manage the corporation. If an owner fails to pay within the time specified, the owner may be held responsible for any resulting reasonable additional administrative expense incurred by the corporation. Our property manager wants all owners to sign for any correspondence received from the board or management.
If an owner refuses to give an electronic signature — using a device installed for parcels that are delivered by Canada Post — the correspondence will not be delivered. There is no rule requiring owners to provide such signatures. Is this valid? The correspondence could not include mailed letters, as those will be delivered by Canada Post to the owners — management must not interfere with those deliveries.
A decision to withhold correspondence not signed for must be made by the board and not by management.
It would not be in the board’s interest if correspondence, such as a requirement that an owner comply with the rules, is not received by the owner.
If the correspondence is notice of an owners’ meeting, that meeting will not be properly called if some of the owners do not receive notice. 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.