As mentioned in a previous article, the Condominium Act 1998 and its Regulations govern all condominium corporations in Ontario.
And the Declaration and Description of each condominium govern each individual condominium. Below that, the By-laws and Rules of each condominium also govern each individual condominium.
The hierarchy of authority is: the Condominium Act and its Regulations over-rules the Declaration and Description; the Declaration and Description over-rules the By-Laws, and the By-laws over-rules the Rules.
Must Do:
The Act sometimes dictates what a condominium corporation (its directors and/or officers) must do.
Example: a condominium corporation, after conducting a reserve fund study, is required to send a notice to the owners as stated in the Act [Note 1].
But what kind of information should the notice contain? In what format should the notice be?
The pertinent Regulation further clarifies and stipulates that the notice that the board is required to send shall be in Form 15 [Note 2]. The regulation also provides a sample copy of Form 15 [Note 3].
Legalese speaks: When the law says "shall", you may take it to mean "has to", so "shall be" is equivalent to "has to be", "shall have" means "has to have".
Optional:
The Act sometimes provides something optional that a condominium corporation (its directors and/or officers) may choose to do or not to do.
Example: the proxy used to vote at a meeting of owners may be in the prescribed form [Note 4].
The legalese speaks: "may be" simply means "optional", even though the regulation also provides a sample copy of a proxy as Form 8 and Form 9 [Note 5].
Must Do with Flexibilities:
The Act sometimes dictates what a condominium corporation (its directors and/or officers) must do, but a condominium corporation may do it in other manner if certain conditions are met. This gives some flexibilities for its board of directors and its officers some flexibilities how things are run.
Example: The Act says that when a meeting of directors is called, all directors have to be given a written notice at least 10 days before the day of the meeting, unless there is a by-law that specifies otherwise [Note 6].
This means that if there is a by-law stating that the notice can be given with at least 24-hour notice, then that’s fine. Otherwise, if someone (such as the property manager) sends out a notice to all members of the board about a meeting to be held three days later, this will violate the Act.
The By-law No. 1 of TSCC 1446 (880 Grandview Way) paragraph 5.10 allows a meeting of Board of Directors to be called by giving at least 48-hour written notice, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays.
[Note 1] The Condominium Act 1998, Section 94, Subsection (9)(a): "Within 15 days of proposing a plan, the board shall send to the owners a notice containing a summary of the study, a summary of the proposed plan and a statement indicating the areas, if any, in which the proposed plan differs from the study."
[Note 2] Ontario Regulation 48/01 section 33, Subsection (3): The notice that the board is required to send under subsection 94 (9) of the Act shall be in Form 15.
[Note 3] A sample copy of Form 15 is provided in the regulations. Click here to see it.
[Note 4] The Condominium Act 1998, section 52, Subsection (6): An instrument appointing a proxy may be in the prescribed form.
[Note 5] Form 8 is a sample copy of a proxy for general matters (click here to see it), and Form 9 is a sample copy of a proxy for general matters and for the election of directors (click here to see it). Many condominiums use Form 9 at their AGM (Annual General Meeting) as it is usually when directors are being elected.
[Note 6] The Condominium Act 1998, section 35, Subsection (2): The person calling a meeting of directors shall give a written notice of the meeting to every director of the corporation at least 10 days before the day of the meeting, unless the by-laws specify otherwise.
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