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Condo Corporation documents requests – filled with games by boards and property managers – changes to the law seems to have no effect on boards and property managers. Part of 1 of a series

  • wecare994
  • Sep 24, 2024
  • 4 min read

January 1, 2020, four years ago the Alberta government implemented many new changes to the Alberta Condominium Act intended to assist owners.  One of the changes desperately needed was a way for condo owners to be provided with the documents of their corporation so they can be aware of the events and issues in the building. Dictatorial boards and poor property managers have always hid documents from owners for many reasons. The changes to the legislation lays out very clearly that a property manager within 10 days of receipt of a request are legally required to provide the requested documents to the owners. It should be easy to receive documents – the legislation spells it out and it's been four years for them to learn the process. We are planning on testing how the changes to the legislation have improved the processes for condo owners.


I made a request to my board of directors and property management company (“PM”) to review certain corporate documents fifteen days ago. I thought how easy this should be, I won’t have jump through the same hoops with the PM because its now the law. It’s been 15 days since I sent the email request to the property manager.  I have not received one document and the property manager falsely claimed that majority of the documents required board approval to receive which is the same old tired game. Here is a sample of the requested documents: Fire Safety Plan, property management services agreement, the special reserve plan, the annual report, and an engineer’s report. There aren’t extenuating circumstances or any reasons why the board and property manager can’t just email a copy of the Fire Safety Plan. How can the Fire Safety Plan be such a secret or confidential document that would require board approval for an owner to receive? What is even crazier is that not one member of the board jumped up and said why can’t we send the Fire Safety Plan; owners need to have a copy of the Fire Safety Plan don’t they? How can owners follow the safety plan if they don’t know what the plan is?  The truth is, they can’t provide the Fire Safety plan because there isn’t one, it doesn’t exist despite it being a fire code violation and it's a similar situation with the reserve plans and annual report. “They” are attempting to hide their own gross negligence and now this becomes a much more difficult issue than just a document request. People are living in dangerous situations and there are little to no consequences for property managers or boards who fail to ensure the safety of the owners in the building.


Why would a board fail to provide owners a document that could save their life and why has the board and property manager not provided a fire safety plan to its owners? Boards hide behind property managers because they don’t know any better. They don’t understand their roles and responsibilities as board members, and they allow property managers to act as puppet masters in the building. All property managers are aware of the legislation and if they aren’t they should have their licenses revoked. They know that boards no longer have the authority to hold back documents from their owners, but they continue to play these games.  An owner should receive free of charge any document that hasn’t already been provided to them. If you’ve misplaced the minutes for example then you can be charged $10.00 per item for the PM to send replacements. It’s really just intended to compensate the PMs time and not charge the corporation, now that all documents are electronic we all know how long it takes to attach documents but fair compensation should be provided to the PM if they are cooperating with the law.

  

When legislation is enacted you need an institution to ensure that legislation is being followed and enforced. The Real Estate council of Alberta ( RECA) is the regulator of property managers but clearly the property manager is not worried about repercussions or consequences of making false statements, and/or providing wrong information and looking deceitful. The property manager is not concerned about lying to the people who pay their salary because they aren’t afraid of breaking the law.  


Prior to day ten I reached out to RECA to explain to them that I had requested documents and heard nothing, they provided me with the broker’s name and contact information. The broker is the individual who maintains the license for the company to operate. I went to the broker on Thursday which was day ten last week. I explained how concerning it is that a Fire Safety Plan is a confidential document and requires board approval. They ignored that comment and I was told by the broker, of course it’s somehow my fault, that the documents are available on a new portal the board has created. Except, another game, the only documents located on the portal are board minutes. The board minutes provide very little info and don’t even follow best practices. There are serious privacy concerns in the building. They have failed to follow the privacy act, there are no signs notifying owners and guests that there are surveillance cameras and no privacy policy. There are unethical and privacy violations already exhibited by the board. I will not be using a portal that has no terms of use and privacy policy and requires me to add a picture and other private information about my unit.


Here we are on day fifteen of the document request – waiting for the broker to provide the required documents –


Come along for the ride and lets see how hard or easy this is to obtain my own corporate documents …… and who is watching over the condo owners in Alberta!



Check out the legislative fact sheet here that provides a list of documents you can request from the board or property manager at any time:  https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/b1c13245-86dd-41a1-b540-4cc40b58bb04/resource/cb7f7cfa-9533-49b2-a5ee-ee7b3a313420/download/sa-condominium-documents-owners-mortgagees-prospective-purchasers-2022-10.pdf

 

 

 
 
 

Kommentare

Meetings and Events

Condo Buildings have many different types of meetings -AGMs, Special Meetings and  Extraordinary Meetings, Owners Meetings -    See below on tips for making your meeting inclusive and productive 

​Annual General Meetings are crucial to democracy, a condominium corporation in Alberta is required to have annual general meetings every year and at the latest 15 months from the last AGM. These are formal meetings where owners vote on all types of business such as new bylaws, bylaw changes, financial considerations, improvements, upgrades and elect a new board of directors. There are certain procedural rules boards must follow when organizing an AGM; notice must be provided 60 days prior to the AGM, this gives owners the ability to submit agenda items to the board. After the 60 days, formal notice with the agenda items must be sent to owners within 30-14 days prior to the meeting date. Make sure you are voting at your AGMs, you need to make sure the votes are counted - make sure your board is either holding elections through ballots or a counted hand vote. 

There are several types of other meetings a condo corporation holds - Special Meetings, Owners Meetings or Town Halls. It all depends on who is doing the organizing and the topics being put forward. Condo Owners should ensure that their meetings have at least the basic requirements for example: With the exception of Owners Meetings which are called by the owners and not formal, all meetings should include, if possible: scrutineers, agenda- ability of owners to add to agenda, accurate and properly recorded minutes, elections, voting - owners should be voting on issues at AGMs to name a few. There are many requirements to hold a duly organized meeting. For example, public companies and other corporations hire several entities when they hold AGMs. Most corporations start by hiring a law firm. a company to scrutineer and often depending on the type of meeting a solicitation agent. Unfortunately, and of course because it's impractical for the majority of Condo Corporations to assume the expense of all or even a few of those entities most Condo Corporations rely on the knowledge of the property manager and an inexperienced board to deal with meetings which affects the quality of the meetings.

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​The quality of condo meetings depend on the quality of the property manager and the knowledge of your board of directors. Most condo meetings are pretty poor which leads to very little advancement and improvements in the corporation. If your condo corporation holds proper meetings then thank goodness and let us know! We want to hear about condos that are working well together creating successful condo communities. If not then well we all know when buildings incur this type of combination of a poor manager and a poor board for too long the building starts to deteriorate very quickly. Most building come equipped with basic bylaws created by the developer included in the owners manual, some specs and basic information and little else so if you were unlucky to buy into a property with owners who knew very little about condo boards you are probably facing some difficulties after a number of years.  Call us anytime and we will audit your meetings, elections or if you assist in coordinating any type of meeting. See our simple suggestions for make your meetings even more successful. 

condo meeting

Everyone is happier with a cookie in their hand

condo meeting - AGM

                                 Make people feel welcome!         

                           

Meetings are stressful even if there are no hot topics so anything you can do to lighten the mood is helpful. You could also have a giveaway or a play a little game before you get started. Don't forget name tags for large gatherings, bring a card or provide contact information and don't forget a pen, notepad or your phone to take notes and exchange information.  

If you organized the meeting: don't forget to shake as many peoples hands and introduce yourself to as many people as you can!

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Hint: If you are organizing the meeting you should be the last to leave! This helps make sure you talk to everyone who came to talk to you!

                                             Its ALL in the Details

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We believe details are important! Set up a station with coffee, juice or water to keep people hydrated and bring along some home baked or store bought treats. Owners will feel welcome and it helps to set the tone of a meeting. Who can argue with a piece of cake in their hand or mouth! Meetings should be informative and engaging and setting the tone will make your meetings more successful.

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Hint: You'll often be able to tell the people who support you or at least like you if they take a cookie or drink some coffee. More combative individuals won't take the cookie because they feel like they would owe you something back and sometimes that's just being nice and respectful.

CONTACT US Before you buy a condo 

Working as a Trustee in the corporate debt space for over a decade has helped me build a foundation in Corporate and Securities Law. As a a Manager of Corporate Trust acting as debt Trustee, collateral agent or escrow agent, I was involved in many types of large international transaction and the biggest bought deal in Canadian history. As a trustee we were involved in, attended and scrutineered all types of meetings, extraordinary resolutions and consent solicitations. As Corporate Secretary for a large public company, I have over a decade of experience in many aspects of Corporate Law.  I worked for  several years in compliance for a capital raising investment company and worked in the prosecution department at IIROC. My degree in political science gives me a heightened sense of justice and expertise in all levels of government, democratic institutions and democratic practices.  I started this company to help other condo owners who were having similar experiences with condo boards. My corporate law and securities experience provides a great backdrop to be able to help create inclusive communities one building at a time, fighting one board at a time to bring back democracy and inclusion to Condo boards. People don't need to be fighting boards -it ruins their piece of mind and stunts community growth. Boards of Directors need to be held accountable for bad decisions and bad operating procedures and educated in best practices. 

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CONTACT
LOCATION

Email: wecare@momentumcondo.com
Phone: 403.651.7403
 

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Calgary, Alberta T2R 1R8

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