Some of the most important changes proposed in Bill 106 (which is the proposed legislation aimed at amending our Condominium Act) deal with the responsibilities and obligations related to changes, maintenance and repairs of units and of common elements. Indeed, if the proposed legislation passes, the responsibility to repair a unit after damage may no longer fall on the corporation (unless the declaration provides otherwise). This responsibility and the cost associated with it would be shifted back onto each owner. Moreover, the corporation’s ability to make changes to the common elements may also be affected by the proposed legislation.
In my view, reverting to owners the responsibility to repair a unit after damage is a welcomed change. It will greatly simplify many matters including issues surrounding insurance. Unfortunately, the proposed Act does not appear to make this change retroactive. This may prove to be a problem as many corporations had their declaration drafted under the current (or prior) legislation. For this reason, many of the existing declarations impose on corporations the obligation to repair a unit after damage. At the time of incorporation, this language simply reflected the legislation in place. By not making the proposed change retroactive, many existing corporations may still be responsible to continue to repair units after damage simply because their “old” declaration says so. Corporations may not be able to benefit from this proposed change to the legislation since amending a declaration is a very difficult and costly undertaking. It would have been preferable, in my view, to force all corporations into this new regime unless corporations chose to opt out of it after the passing of the new Act.
