Renters are also sub­ject to board rules

Mar­i­lyn Lin­coln, National Post

Q. Our condo board is hav­ing a prob­lem with the declar­ant (builder) who is leas­ing out units and is not pro­vid­ing the cor­po­ra­tion with the names of the renters or any other info. These renters have not received copies of our bylaws from their land­lord (declar­ant) and they con­tinue to vio­late our rules and claim igno­rance. The builder informs us he does not have to pro­vide any infor­ma­tion and he thinks sec­tion 83 (1) of the Con­do­minium Act does not apply to him. Is this an error on his part?

A. The declar­ant, oth­er­wise known as the builder or devel­oper, is the owner until the date of reg­is­tra­tion of a con­do­minium dec­la­ra­tion and descrip­tion. Fol­low­ing the reg­is­tra­tion, the builder must appoint the first board of direc­tors for the cor­po­ra­tion. Once the major­ity of units have been sold, the declar­ant must hold a turnover meet­ing at which the own­ers can elect a board of direc­tors. Some­times a declar­ant will con­tinue to be part of the cor­po­ra­tion long after the turnover meet­ing, espe­cially if they still own some of the units. As a condo owner, he or she is enti­tled to rent their units. How­ever, they are not exempt from fol­low­ing the Con­do­minium Act of Ontario, which is the law.

It clearly states in sec­tion 83(1) of the act that any owner who leases a unit or renews a lease shall, within 30 days of enter­ing into a lease or renewal, notify the cor­po­ra­tion. The owner must pro­vide the tenant’s name, the owner’s address, copy of the lease or a sum­mary of it, along with a copy of the dec­la­ra­tion, bylaws and rules of the cor­po­ra­tion. The owner must notify the cor­po­ra­tion in writ­ing when the ten­ancy ter­mi­nates. The cor­po­ra­tion must main­tain a record of all notices that it has received.

Fail­ing to pro­vide the above infor­ma­tion can result in con­se­quences. For instance, in our cor­po­ra­tion, an owner didn’t read our rules prior to leas­ing his unit. He rented his condo to a fam­ily with two dogs, when our doc­u­ments state only one dog per unit. Need­less to say, it was a very stress­ful time for both the ten­ants and the board of direc­tors who had to enforce the one-dog restric­tion. The ten­ants moved out within six weeks.

Own­ers, take note: You are respon­si­ble for your ten­ants, who are sub­ject to the same rules as own­ers under the Con­do­minium Act. In the above case, the writer men­tions the ten­ants are vio­lat­ing the rules and claim­ing igno­rance. The board should send a let­ter to the ten­ants and the owner indi­cat­ing the over­sight. If ten­ants refuse to fol­low the rules, the cor­po­ra­tion can obtain a court order under Sec­tion 134 of the act, requir­ing com­pli­ance. If the ten­ant refuses to com­ply with the order, the court has the author­ity to ter­mi­nate the lease.

Mar­i­lyn Lin­coln is a condo owner, direc­tor and author of The Con­do­minium Self Man­age­ment Guide, 2^nd edition.

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