Shared Facilities

In order to take advantage of the economy of scale, it’s a common practice now for builders to build several condominium corporations on a larger piece of land, to form a residential complex. This fosters a closer-knit community.

Some of the facilities are shared among the condos, typically the underground garage, and parking spots for visitors. Space permitting, some complexes may have a small park within the complex.

The Grandview Way is one of such residential complexes, with three condominium corporations (the casitas, the 88 building, and the 880 building) sharing a gatehouse, an underground garage, a parkette with a gazebo, and beautiful landscape, among other things.

Above: Garage entrance on the right,
exit on the left
(Click here to see a larger picture.)


Below: Gazebo in the parkette
(Click here to see a larger picture.)

The costs of maintaining these shared facilities as well as the costs of providing shared services (such as security, landscaping, snow removal) are split (i.e., shared) among the three condos in a predetermined formula.

There are 500 units in total in the Grandview Way complex. The casitas has 196 units, so its share is 39.2% (196 out of 500). The 88 building has 156 units, so its share is 31.2% (156 out of 500). And the 880 building has 148 units, so its share is 29.6% (148 out of 500).

Obviously the formula is based on the number of units in each condominium corporation. Had the formula been based on the footprint area of the land occupied by each condominium corporation, the share percentages could be significantly different.

So, enjoy the parkette, the gazebo, the beautiful landscape, and everything else that is shared, because every owner in any of the three condominium corporations of the Grandview Way complex pays the costs of upkeeping those shared facilities.

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Condominium Governance

In general all matters relating to condo in Ontario are governed by a series of documents. On the top of this line of authority is the Condominium Act 1998 [1]. In complement to the Act are two Regulations [2] that basically fine-tune the main legislation, i.e., the Condominium Act 1998. (More on the Regulations in later articles.) These two documents are like the “grand constitution” of all condominiums in Ontario.

The next document in line of authority is the Declaration and Description of the condominium corporation that the builder registers with the Land Registry Office during the process of creating the condominium corporation. This is like a “mini constitution” of a particular condominium corporation, and is specific to that particular condo. The Declaration and Description of TSCC #1446 (the 880 building) was registered on July 18, 2002 by Eminent Construction Limited.

"Wait a minute!" You'd say, "I thought the Grandview Way residential complex is a DEL condo that was built by Tridel." Yes, it was. Typically, developers like Tridel would set up a limited company for each building project. One of the reasons is that because under certain scenarios, builders are required by law to disclose if they are being sued. So, if the building project should result in any lawsuits, it won't negatively affect other ongoing projects. Tridel in this way acts like an umbrella company.

The Declaration and Description of TSCC #1446 (the 880 Grandview Way building) contains, among other things, information about the shared facilities. (Again, more on this later.)

The next level down are the By-laws of the condominium corporation. The By-laws give more specific rules as to how the condo should be run. The By-laws of TSCC #1446 (the 880 Grandview Way building) specifies, among other things, how the condo is to be managed through the Board of Directors as well as Officers of the Corporation.

The lowest in the line of authority are the Rules. Rules deal with very specific day-to-day operations of the condo (such as a Rule that allows or disallows pets). Rules are made by the Board of Directors after passing a resolution in a Directors’ meeting. The Condominium Act also has specific requirements on communicating the proposed rules to the owners of the condo before the rules become effective.

Earlier this year a Rule regarding visitor parking was passed by the each Board of Directors of MTCC #1113 (the casitas), MTCC #1132 (the 88 Grandview Way building), and TSCC #1446 (the 880 Grandview Way building). So, the Rule is now in effect. But, do you know what the Rule is about?

Hierarchy of authority:
1) The Condominium Act over-rules the Declaration and Description;
2) The Declaration and Description over-rules the By-laws;
3) The By-laws over-rule the Rules.

Therefore, Rules may not contradict By-laws, By-laws may not contradict the Declaration, and Declaration may not contradict the Condominium Act. The Act also says that if any part below (Declaration, By-laws, or Rules) contradicts the Act, that offending part will be rendered useless.

[Note 1] The Condominium Act 1998 is Chapter 19 of the Statutes of Ontario 1998 (S.O. 1998, c.19). For a complete text of the Act, see http://iijcan.net/en/on/laws/stat/so-1998-c-19/latest/so-1998-c-19.html

[Note 2] There are two Regulations that supplement the Condominium Act 1998. The Ontario Regulation 48, 2001 (O. Reg. 48/01) General, and the Ontario Regulation 49, 2001 (O. Reg. 49/01) Description and Registration. For a complete text of both Regulations, see http://iijcan.net/en/on/laws/regu/o-reg-48-01/latest/o-reg-48-01.html and http://iijcan.net/en/on/laws/regu/o-reg-49-01/latest/o-reg-49-01.html.

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