If passed, Bill 19 will introduce major revisions to Alberta’s Condominium Property Act. The main amendments relate to charging back costs for damage and enabling simpler voting methods for condominium boards.
The legislation intends to reduce financial risk of condominium ownership by allowing condominium corporations to charge damages and costs to the owner or occupant responsible for causing them. In this, these costs would no longer be passed to other owners through insurance premiums or increased condominium fees. This would allow damage chargebacks to include related service costs, insurance deductibles, reasonable administrative costs, and reasonable legal fees.
Bill 19 will also implement simpler voting options during annual general meetings, speeding up routine processes. This would enable corporations to implement an alternative to the standard owner votes system and allow owners to request a vote by unit factor. Lastly, the amendments will clarify prior provisions. This includes replacing the former ‘Building Assessment Report’ with the ‘Converted Property Study’, moving all provisions on doors and windows from the regulation in the Act and having all provisions outlining property responsibilities in one place. The amendments will be proclaimed after changes to the supporting regulations are complete.
LESA has outlined how these amendments will impact real estate practitioners in our recent webinar, Condominium Law Update (available on-demand). Dionne Leveque’s paper for this program titled, Condominium Case Law Update focuses on laws governing short-term rental restrictions (such as Airbnb), the cost of litigation between condominium corporations and owners, and statutory remedies under the Condominium Property Act, and builders’ liens.
LESA offers resources in real estate law that are relevant to review considering the Bill-19 amendments. Our fall 2021 webinar, Foreclosures: Beyond the Basics (available on-demand) highlights developments in foreclosure law. In this series, Francis Taman’s paper, Foreclosures Case Law Review provides a fulsome overview of five recent foreclosure cases. This paper focuses on deemed trusts, the interplay of foreclosure with the Interest Act, second mortgages and guarantees, inadvertent discharge of a mortgage, and whether a discharged mortgage could be registered by caveat to preserve the rights of a mortgagee. Also from this program, Kyle Kawanami’s paper, Down is Up and Up is Down: Condominium Caveats and Notices of Security Interests summarizes the current law regarding condominium caveats and Notices of Security interests, providing potential solutions to resolving any issues that may arise.
For more information on Bill 19 and the amendments to the Condominium Property Act, visit the Government of Alberta Canada website here.
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