Condo Manager Licensing in Ontario: The “General” licence
In this series of blog, we explore the various condo management licences that will be granted under the new Condominium Management Services Act, once this legislation comes into force. In this post, we summarize the nature and requirements of the Condo Manager General Licence. This post also addresses grandfathering provisions of this new legislation.
Who Can Get a Condo Manager General Licence?
In a nutshell, the general licence will be granted to condo managers who :
- Have a limited condo manager licence (more on these licences in our next post but for now, suffice it to say that these are opened to managers will less than 5 years of experience);
- Have successfully completed the educational and examination requirements. These have not been precisely fleshed out yet, but keep reading this post as you will see equivalencies and grandfathering provisions; and,
- Have at least 2 years of condo management work experience under the supervision of a supervising licensee.
The required experience must include the following:
- Having planned and participated in meetings of the board of directors of a condo corporation;
- Having planned and participated in meetings of owners, including at least one AGM;
- Having participated in preparing a budget presented to the board of directors of a condo corporation;
- Having interpreted financial statements for a condominium corporation and having presented them to the board of directors;
- Having prepared and presented reports to the board of directors of a condo corporation; and,
- Having overseen maintenance or repairs of units, common elements or corporation’s assets.
Who Will be Grandfathered?
Condo managers will be exempt from these prerequisite requirements if, immediately before this new legislation comes into force:
- The manager is a member in good standing of the Association of Condo Managers of Ontario as a Registered Condominium Manager; or,
- The manager has successfully completed all of the following courses developed by ACMO:
- Condominium Law;
- Physical Building Management;
- Financial Planning for Condominium Managers, and,
- Condominium Administration and Human Relations.
In the future, someone who has held a general condo manager licence will be able to return to the profession without having to go through the limited licensing process if less than 2 years have passed since they held their general licence. This is to allow general licensees who have left the profession for less than 2 years to return to it.
Automatic Transitional General Licences
Anyone who, at the time this legislation comes into force:
- has acquired more than 2 years of condo management experience (within a period of five years), and
- is employed as a condo managers and is providing condo management service to a client (or who was in the 3 months preceding the day the legislation came into force)
will get a Transitional General Licence. This transitional licence will continue to exist for at least 150 days. This period of transition will allow existing experienced condo managers to continue to act in this capacity while they apply to get the required licence under the new legislation. The Registrar will be able to extend the transitional period if he is of the view that not doing so would cause undue hardship to the applicant. Otherwise, the transitional licence will expire. A condo manager will not be able to be on a transitional general licence for more than 3 years.
Expiration of the licence
The general licence of a condo manager will expire at the earliest of the following events:
- the day of expiry specified on the licence (unless renewed);
- the day on which the manager ceases to be employed by a licensed condo management provider (an exception exist for condo managers who are employed by less than 3 condo corporations);
- the day on which the manager ceases to be employed by a condominium corporation;
- the day the Registrar suspends or revokes the licence.
The Province is Inviting Your Comments
Please note that the information in this post is based on a draft version of the regulations proposed to be adopted pursuant to the Condominium Management Services Act. These regulations are still in draft form and subject to change. Anyone wishing to comment on the proposed regulations is invited to do so before February 6, 2017. Comments can be sent by email or by mail at 56 Wellesley Street West, 6th Floor; Toronto, ON; M7A 1C1. You should quote proposal number 16-MGCS023.