In this series of posts, we explore how Ontario proposes to licence and regulate condo managers under the new Condominium Management Services Act. In this post, we look at who can lodge a formal complaint against a condo manager and how complaints and disciplinary procedures will be handled under this new legislation.
The new Condominium Management Services Act does not provide much information on how the complaint process will work. It is interesting to note, however, that this new legislation does not restrict who can make a formal complaint against a manager. In comparison, when British Columbia became the first province to license and regulate its “strata” property managers in 2006, it provided that complaints against managers were to be submitted to the board of directors and that only a board of directors could escalate a complaint to the Real Estate Council of British Columbia (which regulates and enforces the Real Estate Services Act in that province). The logic behind this is that managers report to the board of directors. The board of directors is therefore best placed to look into a complaint from an owner. After all, the complaint may be the result of actions taken by the manager under the direction of the board. Ontario does not appear to have gone that way and has not restricted who can make a complaint against a manager.
