First steps

“Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?" he asked. "Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” —Alice's Adventures in Wonderland The biggest problem for owners who want to challenge the board is that they do not know how to go about it so they make a lot of mistakes. Many of these mistakes may be minor but some can be disastrous. So start slowly. Get educated Read your condo's Declaration, by-laws and rules. Keep them handy. Keep a copy of or take a digital photo of all the notices that management post in the building.

Keep a copy of all the condo's letters, AGM packages and newsletters. You will need to refer to them later. Also keep a copy of all notices, changes to the rules, financial reports and any other correspondence from the manager or the board.

Go to all the owner meetings and note all the unit numbers of the owners who seem concerned about the board's performance or have issues that are being ignored. That is a good way to start networking.

Read this website. Buy or loan from the library, all of the books that I list in the Book  Reviews page. Read the Condominium Act. It is online and is listed in my References chapter.

If you have any questions, send me an e-mail.

Report building deficiencies
Start by reporting serious building deficiencies in writing to the property manager. Just write the one letter; don't hound them with multiple letters.

If you do not get a response and the serious deficiencies are not repaired, send your complaints to the city’s licencing and standards (MLS) inspectors. In Toronto, you can phone 311 and make a complaint over the telephone. Your name is kept confidential.

Make sure that the building deficiencies are serious enough to warrant the inspector’s time. Otherwise, he may be reluctant to return in the future.

In Toronto, you can track the progress of all investigations by the building inspectors on their website. You need to print copies of these web pages for your records. (They do not stay up on the city's website for long.)

If there are fire safety issues phone the Fire Marshall’s office and ask them to investigate.

Building your case
These are important steps. The first time I took my board of directors to Superior Court and stated that there were serious building and safety deficiencies, the condo president responded that I made unsubstantiated allegations. (I could not back up my complaints with documented proof.)

In our second application to Superior Court, I had a list of MLS Investigations that included work orders and city applications to the court to get the board to comply with city building standards. These were all backed up with dates, particulars and photographs. My complaints were no longer unsubstantiated allegations.

Letters to manager
If there are maintenance, security, noise or parking issues, verbally tell the property manager. If that proves to be ineffective, send your concerns in writing, either by fax or e-mail to the manager with a copy to the board. Maintain a paper trail for your records.

Do not send more than two letters on the same subject or they may claim you are harassing them.

Talk to your neighbours
Start getting a feel how much support you will get from the other owners. Listen to what their complaints are. They may have issues or know other owners who have serious issues that you were not aware of.

Talking to your neigbours can be difficult. You can meet them in the mailroom, in the elevators, in the fitness room and by joining the smokers standing outside the lobby. You can join a social committee.

Collect names, unit numbers, phone numbers and email addresses. Keep this information confidential.

Do more listening than talking. In the beginning, you are looking for others who have the same concerns as you have more than trying to persuade people to change their minds.

You may be able to slip a leaflet under the unit doors.

Keep good records
Buy some folders and start filing all the letters you sent the manager and the board and the date of all the complaints that you sent to city and provincial bodies.

Now you are off to a good start.

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