The Lone Ranger will not help

Often, far too often a single, or a group, of condo owners who are being harassed by their board, or are looking for help in getting their rundown condo buildings repaired go looking for a hero—a Lone Ranger—to rescue them.

There is no Lone Ranger.

Bro bono lawyer
It surprised me to find so many owners who believe that since their case is so strong, and their cause is so just, it should be easy to find a lawyer who will work for them for free or at least on contingency—when I win the lawyer gets 30-50%.

Sorry. There are far too many cases of condo owners getting abused by condo boards or management companies for a lawyer to be that interested in your situation.

Crowd funding
A few owners, or groups of owners, will try to raise funds by Crowd Funding on the Internet. I don't think any of these appeals raised much money.

Queens Park will not help
The Condominium Act is considered consumer protection so it comes under the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services. The Act is self-help legislation. It is up to the owners to deal with their board with the tools that the Act gives them.

On the ministry's website you will find:
Condominium: Frequently Asked Questions.

Question #10 is:
My condo board isn’t living up to the requirements of the Condominium Act. They never call meetings and they won’t let us see the financial statements. I’ve talked to them but they won’t do anything. Can the government help me?

Answer:
The government has put in place a number of mechanisms for settling disputes between condo corporations and unit owners, and it will not interfere in these procedures.
See http://www.sse.gov.on.ca

So the Ontario government will not get involved even if the boards are violating the Condominium Act.

Condominium Authority of Ontario CAO)

The CAO is not the calvary

The CAO is a source for information, training, dispute resolution, and other services to help improve condominium living.

The following is a short list of what they do and what they do not provide:

What they do:

•	Provide information and training about:
	– the rights and responsibilities of condo owners.
	– the roles & responsibilities of the condo board & management.
	– changes to the Condo Act, 1998, that affect condo communities.
•	Provide information on common issues to assist condo communities in proactively resolving issues.
•	Provide a publicly available, searchable, online registry of all condominium corporations in the province, as may be required by regulation (anticipated start date of early 2018).
•	Offer a new, online dispute-resolution process, called the Condo Authority Tribunal (CAT) (starting November 1, 2017) and adjudicate disputes.

What they don’t do:

•	Help with individual condo repairs or maintenance such as plumbing issues
•	Help with building issues such as falling glass
•	Get involved with the operation of your condo building (such as security, common elements, recreation facilities, common grounds, garbage disposal etc.)
•	Get involved with board-related situations such as elections, attend board meetings or enforce board decisions
•	Enforce condominium corporation’s by-laws, rules or policies or other building rules
•	Investigate non-compliance with the Condominium Act, 1998, its regulations, or a particular condominium corporation’s declaration, by-laws, rules, or policies
•	Investigate possible misconduct by individuals such as board member, manager or resident (for example, investigating possible fraud; this would be a criminal investigation)
•	Act on behalf of any particular owner, resident, condominium corporation, condominium manager, or condominium management service provider (for example, send a letter to an owner, represent a party before the CAT)
•	Provide legal advice, opinions or recommendations on any topic.

For most of the items above, contact your condo manager, condo board or seek legal advice.

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