September 2012 - Why invest in the Ottawa condo market

Finally a review of the law that brought me into this business in the first place.

As many of you know, I decided to pursue my license to become a Realtor when I purchased my first property. At the time all I could afford was a condominium, and together with my husband, we bought a townhouse condo in Ottawa. During the conditional stage of our offer we paid the standard $100 to receive information about the condominium status, known as the Status Certificate. With the help of our lawyer, we reviewed the documents and made the decision to purchase our first investment. One month after we closed on our new place, we received a letter indicating that there was insufficient amount in the reserve fund to cover major repairs required for the condominium, and each owner would be required to pay a $10,000 as a special assessment to help cover the costs. I sued the condominium board of directors and after a pre-trial and trial,  I lost. Reason being was based on the principle that the board of directors were volunteers with limited liability, and therefore could not be held responsible for not “knowing any better.”

Here we are, exactly seven years later, and finally the Ontario Consumer Minister has acknowledged that the board of directors of these condominiums need to become accountable for their actions. More importantly the Condominium Act needs to be revised since the last major revision  occurred in 1998. The industry has changed dramatically since then and there are several issues that need to be addressed.

As Brian Tuckey’s states in his article in The Star about the necessity of the condominium act, “When the act was first introduced, there weren’t the varied types of condominium buildings that we see today — like condominium-townhouse complexes, mixed-use buildings including commercial or retail uses, or hotel/condos.With such a mix of condominium types and a number of people involved — such as owners, renters, buyers, condo boards, businesses and more — there is a need to update the act and address issues, like the growing number of investor owners and landlords, maintenance fee increases and the education of owners, property managers and boards about condo lifestyle, rights and obligations.”

Now, seven years later, with a broker’s license in hand - I have still continued to invest in the condo market and I encourage many of my clients to do the same. For those who live in condos now, and who want to voice their concerns, feel free to email your views and ideas to   oncondo@ontario.ca   and to read more about the changes to take place go to http://news.ontario.ca/mcs/en/2012/06/building-a-better-condominium-act.html


Sincerely,