CCI Toronto News
Legislative Newsflash: 2023 Year End Reminders
E-Meetings, Bill 91 & the Condominium Act, 1998 (the "Act")
Thanks to Bill 91, and as we all know, electronic meetings (or e-meetings) are permanently part of the Act and its General Regulation as of October 1, 2023. The changes formalized the Act's emergency provisions about electronic owners' and board meetings that our industry had been using since 2020.
This is your year-end reminder of key Bill 91 changes that every condominium, manager and service provider must know.
1. Email consent forms are gone! A condominium can use an owner's (or mortgagee's) email address if the owner (or mortgagee) sends any type of email to the condominium, unless the owner (or mortgagee) sends a written request that notice not be sent using the email address (ss.12.6.1(1) of the General Reg)!
a. There is no need to send email consent forms with your meeting packages.
2. Email should be the default way to communicate, as long as the condominium:
a. Has an email address for that owner or mortgagee, unless the owner or mortgagee has sent a written request that notice not be sent using the email address.
b. Has not passed a by-law "limiting" e-meetings (and we strongly recommend against this!) the ability to send notices by email (which we do not recommend).
3. Email addresses are exempt from production under a records request for a list of unit owners and mortgagees.
a. Owners' (and mortgagees') email addresses are in the list of "prescribed" exempt records under ss. 55(4) and the list of exempt records in ss. 13.11(2) of the General Reg.
4. Owners' meetings with an electronic component, either completely virtual or "hybrid" (partially virtual and partially in-person), must "enable all persons entitled to attend the meeting to reasonably participate" (ss.45(8)).
a. Predictably, "reasonable participation" is not defined.
b. Avoid any meeting set up where owners, or a group of owners attending through one method or another, have limited participation.
c. Avoid "home-made" hybrid meeting systems that limit participation by the virtual or in-person owners.
d. No more "proxy only" meetings with a webcast!
The "Un-proclaimed" 2015 Act Changes Disappear in 2025!
You might remember that the Act has been through "some" changes in last 7 years, starting on November 1, 2017. Many of the changes were made through the Protecting Condominium Owners Act, 2015 ("PCOA") that was drafted after many years of government consultation with our industry and hard work by our industry.
However, some of the PCOA changes are still not part of the Act. This includes important changes to protect Ontario's condominium owners and buyers, such as pre-construction buyer protections, strengthening reserve funds, setting a framework for chargebacks (and their disputes), repair and maintenance and many others.
Due to a Legislation Act requirement, the un-proclaimed PCOA changes will expire on December 31, 2025 unless the provincial government acts to make them law. You can see these un-proclaimed changes in the "greyed out" blocks of text in the Act that start with "On a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor" and end with "See: 2015, c. 28,".
2025 seems "far" away, but the legislative process doesn't turn on a dime and there's plenty of work to be done in the next two years. Watch this space for updates as CCI Toronto, the province's CCI chapters and our industry partners work together to strengthen the Act.
Extension of Federal Underused Housing Tax (UHT) Deadline: April 30, 2024
See our Legislative Newsflash of March 21, 2023, regarding the Underused Housing Tax.
In a recent announcement, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) extended the deadline for the Federal Underused Housing Tax (UHT) to April 30, 2024, to provide more time for affected owners to take necessary actions to comply. This extension applies to the UHT returns and payments for the 2022 calendar year, allowing homeowners to file their returns or make their UHT payments without facing penalties or interest, provided they comply by the new deadline.
This newly announced relief is a further extension beyond the previous deadline of October 31, 2023. It aims to alleviate the concerns of homeowners and give them ample time to understand and meet the requirements of the UHT legislation.
Upcoming AODA Compliance Deadline: December 31, 2023
Under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (“AODA”), businesses and not-for-profit organizations with 20 or more employees in Ontario (this does not include volunteers or contractors) have until the end of this year, December 31, 2023, to file their latest Accessibility Compliance Report. This requirement is therefore unlikely to apply to any condominium corporations, but it may well affect certain industry service providers, such as property management companies, security companies, and law firms.
The Accessibility Compliance Report is a self-reporting tool to notify the Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility (the Ministry responsible for persons with disabilities) whether an organization is compliant with AODA and the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation. The form for the Report is available online and is available by clicking here. Monetary fines may be imposed if an organization fails to meet its reporting obligations.
The CCI-T Legislative Committee wishes all our members the very best of the season, and a Happy New Year!