Self-managed condo corporations 

There are hundreds of condo corporations that are self-managed. The directors manage the corporation. At first it may seem a bit odd, something unthinkable like "home skooling", raising urban chickens or drinking unpasteurized milk but it really can be a viable means of saving the owners a lot of money.

The savings can be substantial and Marilyn G. Lincoln wrote a manual,
The Condominium Self-Management Guide, that describes how to self-manage your condo corporation.

In a bid to save money, some condo corporations hire a property manager as a direct employee. The accounting work is contracted out to a bookkeeper or to an accounting office.

The challenges
There are several challenges in becoming self-managed. There has to be office hours for the owners to inform the directors of their suggestions, concerns and complaints.

The directors need to have sufficient knowledge and skill to negotiate contracts with the different trades and services that a condo corporation requires. The corporation will also need an experienced bookkeeper to manage the income, pay the expenses and the payroll.

The directors will need to know the Act and have the ability to chair owner meetings, maintain meeting minutes and to write and distribute notices to the owners. Status Certificates need to be produced and notices and letters typed.

Townhouses
There are many townhouse condominiums in Ontario that have discarded their property management companies and are self-managed. Most are managed by the board of directors while others have hired a person to be both the manager and the superintendent.

This works best with townhouses as the budgets are lower, there are no employees, no expensive common elements such as elevators, boilers, chillers and lobbies to worry about.

Condo towers
A few condominium towers have hired an employee to manage the corporation and a management company to do the accounting. They subcontract the rest of the work.

At times, the president of the board is hired to be the full-time property manager. The few times I have heard of this, it did not work out very well; in fact it was often ghastly.

Note:
Starting in 2018, all persons who are paid to do condo management duties in Ontario need to be licenced.

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