Condo disputes
For most disputes between the corporation and an owner dealing with
items in the declaration, by-laws and rules, such as parking, pets or
noise issues, the corporation is required, under section 132 of the
Condominium Act, to proceed with mandatory mediation and arbitration.
The Act states that a condo corporation is not entitled to apply to the
court for an order for compliance against a unit owner if the mediation
and arbitration processes are available.
Mediation and arbitration was put into the Act so that owners would
have a cheaper and quicker way of settling disputes with the board
without having to go to court, which can be slow and is a very
expensive way of solving minor disagreements.
The Legislature's objective under the Condominium Act was to direct the
resolution of disputes between condominium corporations and unit owners
away from the courts and towards mediation and arbitration.
There are some
exceptions to the mediation and arbitration requirement, namely that
disagreements between the corporation and tenants as well as
disagreements regarding the Act are not required to be submitted to
mediation and arbitration.
A dispute where an owner questions the legality of a declaration,
by-law or rule may not be a disagreement if there is no difference in
opinion on the facts of the case.
These two dispute-resolving forums do not require either side to be
represented by a lawyer but most boards use one. This greatly adds to
the cost of going to mediation and arbitration.
Some owners are quick to settle when they find out how much these
services cost. They are not free nor are they cheap. Both sides will
share the costs depending on what the by-laws say and on the mediator or
arbitrator’s rulings.
A possible complication
Section 132 of the Act states that every declaration shall be deemed to
contain a provision that the corporation and the owners agree to submit
a disagreement between the parties with respect to the declaration,
by-laws or rules to mediation and arbitration in accordance with
clauses.
However the actual process has been left up to each condominium corporation to develop and pass with a by-law.
If there is a dispute prior to the condo enacting of a
Mediation/Arbitration Procedures by-law, the board and the owner will be
without a set of procedures to follow and they will need to agree to
the process they will use. This adds to the time and expense required
to resolve the dispute.
An owner may need a lawyer’s assistance in setting up these procedures.
Courts
If the dispute involves an owner requesting to examine the condo
corporation's records, the dispute goes directly to small claims court.
If the dispute involves an alleged violation of the Condo Act, then the dispute goes to Superior Court.
Human Rights Tribunal
If the dispute is about an alleged violation of a person's human
rights, the owner, tenant or visitor can make an application to the
Human Rights Tribunal.
The Landlord and Tenant Board
The Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) resolves disputes between
residential landlords and tenants. A condo landlord's tenants do not
fall under the Condominium Act, disputes and evictions fall under the
LTB.
This can get complicated. A tenant violates one of the condo's rules so
the condo goes after the owner, not the tenant. The owner then has to
go to the LTB to apply to get the tenant evicted.
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