Owner-occupied position

If at least 15% of the units of the corporation are owner-occupied units, no persons other than the owners of owner-occupied units may elect a person to or remove a person from one of the positions on the board of directors.

An “owner-occupied unit” means a unit where the owner lives in his or her unit and has has not leased the unit within the 60 days before notice is given for the meeting, as shown by the corporation's records.

So the owner-residents are guaranteed to have a minimum of one director on the board that will represent their interests. This can be important in a condo that has 500 units with over 300 rented units.

Notice of intent
In the meeting's information package, there has to be a statement of which persons have notified the board, in writing, as of the day before the notice is sent that they intend to be candidates for the position on the board reserved for voting by owners of owner-occupied units.

At the owners' meeting if there is an election for two or more directors, one of which is the reserved owner-occupant position, there has to be two elections. The first election is for the owner-occupied position.

The losing candidates can then stand for nomination for the remaining director positions.

Removing a director
Unless the by-laws say differently, no persons other than the owners of owner-occupied units may remove a director that holds the owner-occupied position.

Often ignored

The managers and the boards, relying on the owners not knowing their rights, may ignore the requirement for the owner-occupied position on the board and only hold one election at an owners' meeting instead of the required two that the Act calls for.

This is something that the owner-residents need to watch out for.

New Act
The wording in the amended Condominium Act (2015) has changed the term "owner-occupied" to "non-leased". We will have to wait until the regulations are proclaimed, and possibly the new wording challenged in the courts, before we will know exactly what that means.

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