Police can’t request a key to your unit

I was in the shower when the police entered my unit, without permission or the authority to do so, using a key supplied by condo management. What should I do?

You might consider writing to both your condo board and the police, advising that management had no right to provide the key. Your letter should also say that police had no right to request a key to your unit, or use it in the absence of a court order for access or a search warrant.

Consider advising both the corporation and police that, should there be a repetition, you will commence legal action.

Our townhouse condo has two condominium corporations and two boards of directors. But we don’t have an agreement setting out how we share expenses like hydro, water and roads — which will soon require replacement. The boards don’t hold joint meetings, so questions about maintenance, repair and cost-sharing remain unanswered. Does the Condominium Act address a situation like this?

A condo-builder, in a case like this, would normally prepare a shared-facilities agreement and have the two corporations sign it while they are still controlled by the developer. The Condominium Act does not cover either the need for this agreement or what happens when there isn’t one.

The agreement will usually deal with sharing of costs and will also provide for a shared facilities committee made up of representatives from each corporation.

The two boards should be urged — and if necessary, pressured — to negotiate and sign such an agreement. Not having one will lead to repeated disputes about the responsibility of each corporation. Court action could eventually result.

Our board wants to replace some common-area carpet with laminate flooring. Our management company insists that a $1-per-square-foot underlayment be used. The board has obtained three quotes, one for a 50-cent-per-square-foot underlayment. The management company is emphatic that their choice be used. Can the board make this decision?

The board may make the decision but must comply with Section 97 of the Condominium Act dealing with alterations to the common elements. The Act states that the corporation may proceed with the alteration — without notifying unit owners or getting their approval — if the alteration is: 1) required by a mutual-use or shared-facilities agreement; 2) by a law; 3) is necessary to ensure the safety of persons using the property; or 4) is estimated to cost no more than the greater of $1,000 and 1 per cent of the corporation’s annual common expense budget. Otherwise, the corporation must send a notice to each owner describing the alteration and provide an estimate of the cost and how the corporation proposes it will be paid. The cost estimate will reflect the corporation’s choice of underlayment.

The notice must advise that owners of 15 per cent of the condo units have the right, within 30 days of receiving the notice, to requisition an owners’ meeting to vote on the alteration. The corporation may proceed with the alteration if a requisition is not received, or if the owners vote in favour of the alteration at the requisitioned meeting.

If the corporation’s cost estimate for the alteration exceeds 10 per cent of the corporation’s annual common expense budget, it must be put to the owners at a meeting. There, an affirmative vote of 66.6 per cent of the owners is needed to approve the alteration.

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.