Condo board has the power to quiet noisemakers
The tenant in the unit above us has been using a hammer drill to remove floor tiles for six hours each day, making our unit uninhabitable. Is a tenant allowed to do this?
Your condo building’s declaration and/or rules likely has provisions prohibiting noise that disturbs other residents. The board is required to enforce the declaration and rules, and it makes no difference if the noise maker is an owner or a tenant.
One of our directors goes south for at least four months during the winter. He says that he can appoint a proxy to vote and make decisions for him at directors’ meetings. I can’t find anything in the Condominium Act to permit this. Can he appoint a proxy?
A director cannot appoint a proxy for directors’ meetings.
I wrote to the manager requesting to examine certain condominium records. I received this answer: Please be reminded that the charge to view the information is $30.00 for each halfhour.” That seems ridiculous. I can’t believe it’s legal. Is it?
The Condominium Act permits an owner to examine corporation documents and makes no mention of a charge.
The act does state that a person requesting copies is to pay “a reasonable fee to compensate the corporation for labour and copying charges.” There is no fee to examine records and only a fee, usually based on a few cents per page, for copies.
Our corporation registers a lien against a unit if the owner fails to correct a default in paying common expenses after receiving a form 14. Is a form 14 legal? What is the procedure for registering a lien?
The corporation has a lien against an owner’s unit immediately following a default in the timely payment of a common-expense contribution. The lien, however, expires three months after the default if a certificate of lien is not registered against the unit in the Land Titles Office.
At least 10 days before the certificate of lien is registered, the corporation must send a form set out in regulations under the act to the owner by personal delivery or prepaid mail. The form, referred to as a form 14, provides the owner with notice that the lien will be registered following the 10-day period if all amounts secured by the lien are not paid.
On or before the day when the certificate is registered, the corporation, by personal service or registered mail, must give written notice of the lien to each encumbrancer (i.e., mortgagee) of the unit. 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.