Where oh where is RECA? RECA where are you?

#condoliving #building #community #condos #condodocuments

Well, remember that document request I submitted three weeks ago? Well here we are weeks later and I have received one document out of the twelve requested. Who is the winner here....not the condo owners, not RECA but board and property managers? Why would a board refuse to provide documents to an owner? What does the board and the property manager win when they intentionally work to deceive owners of condos? Its shocking to learn that property managers know the law but choose instead to pander and act deceitfully to bad boards. Condo owners have to wonder where is RECA? Are property managers afraid boards will remove them if they disagree or not afraid of RECA because there are no consequences for their actions? I'm not sure what is worse; a deceitful property management company or an ignorant board that refuses to do the work themselves and read the legislation and turn over the requested documents. At least the property manager is supposed to be governed by someone .....boards are basically rogue but property managers are governed and licensed by RECA.

The property manager we are dealing with literally lies to the face of the owners on a daily basis. When we sent the CPA section 44 request to receive documents we received a response directly from one of the property managers stating the board will need to approve this request which is false. The CPA is clear oh.... there are some decent tools the government has put out called Legislative Fact Sheets. Those fact sheets are really helpful for condo owners as they provide details and analysis on the legislation and the changes. The Legislative fact sheets basically list all the documents that owners would require like the property management agreement, any engineering reports, vendor agreements and minutes so it's very clear as to the intent of the legislation. Every document we requested was literally listed on the fact sheet. The government understood that boards and poor property management companies hide and control access to information for many reasons and wanted to make it easy for owners to interpret and understand the new legal requirements. The government has clearly laid it out, here is what you can request and they are legally required to provide these documents to you within 10 days and most of them are free of a small charge of only $10.00. And yet, boards and property managers are not following the law.

We live in a civil society. Civil societies require and count on individuals to follow the law. We need people to stop at crosswalks and wait for cars. We need people in cars to stop at stop signs and red lights and the majority of people follow these laws not because they can be fined if they get caught but because it's the law and they understand the consequences. So, why do boards and property managers continue to ignore the law? I would say, its because they don't fear any repercussions because there are so few they live with the risk which means there is something wrong in the industry.

If the first automatic response is to be deceitful and don't take my word for it this the norm not the exception, than there is something wrong with the property management industry and we need some serious government intervention. It's clearly not enough to enact new legislation and create fact sheets, the government needs to clean up this industry. It starts with education and more requirements and oversight for property management companies. RECA oh RECA where are you?

RECA does assist owners with document requests so continue reaching out to RECA with these types of issues. If you aren't receiving them then you have to question what they are trying to hide and why they refuse to provide them. It could also mean that boards don't have the requested documents because the board is not in compliance. Bad boards rely so heavily on poor property managers and don't do their own work. It's easier to just wait for the property manager to tell them what to do and not review the legislation etc. on their own. Bad boards fail to understand their roles, and don't understand how boards are supposed to work, boards are supposed to reach out to their legal counsel or the regulator if there is conflict between what the owner is telling them versus the property manager. A good sign of a bad board is when they listen to the property manager over the owner because its not their job to analyze and interpret legislation. Bad boards also don't realize property managers are there for their pay cheque not to help anyone but themselves. It's hard for boards to learn the hard way but refusing to follow the law is a good sign you have a poor property management company and its time for a change. All condo owners should be receiving any document at any time in accordance with the legislation....RECA oh RECA where are you?