CMHC blacklist 
“Agencies don't care. They put a label on you if you complain. They blacklist you, say you're hard to please.”
—Debbie Miller

Officially and legally, there is no CMHC blacklist. But of course there is one.

What does it mean?
Being on the blacklist means that CMHC feels that your condo corporation is at risk of losing value so it will not insure a mortgage for the units in that corporation. So instead of needing only 5% down to get a mortgage, buyers will need a 20% down payment.

If you buy a unit in a condo with a CMHC backed mortgage and then the corporation runs into financial troubles, you may find out that you cannot get your bank mortgage renewed when it come due for renewal.

That can be a nasty surprise. An owner I had made every single payment on time but still the bank would not renew his mortgage as CMHC would not insure it. This owner was lucky as he managed to get the bank to renew his mortgage but it took a lot of effort on his part.

How do you get on the list?
When it comes to houses, a property gets on the blacklist when it is situated next to a chemical factory or near other dangerous locations. Mortgage insurance can also be denied when there are no nearby fire hydrants or if the house does not meet local building codes.

Condominium corporations are different. A condo will get put on the
blacklist when:

1.	A property has a number of foreclosures. (Power of Sales.)
2.	The Reserve Funds are depleted.
3.	There are Operating Fund deficits.
4.	The corporation has taken out special assessments or loans.
5.	The city issues work orders against the corporation.
6.	Property values have dropped.

How many condos on the blacklist?
More than you would suspect. Some new glass-wall condos in the downtown that are suing their builders are on the same list as many of the older thirty to forty-year-old corporations in the Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough suburbs that surrounds the downtown.

When you go to sell
The existing owners may have trouble finding qualified buyers for their units.  Units in these buildings do sell but the prices may take a hit and it will take longer to close a deal.

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