Condo Managers Will Not Be Able to Solicit Proxies Under the New Condo Management Services Act

You will recall that, earlier this year, the province circulated the draft regulation it proposes to adopt under the new Condominium Management Services Act. We have extensively blogged about this.  In this post, we look at the restrictions imposed by this new legislation on the handling of proxies by condominium managers. Whether it is justified or not, this issue is an important and sensitive one.

What managers won’t be able to do with proxies

The new Condo Management Services Act will specifically prohibit condo managers (or anyone acting for them) from soliciting proxies for meetings of owners where the subject matter of the meeting includes:

• any matter directly related to the condo manager; or,
• the removal or the election of one or more of the directors of the corporation.

This restriction was added at the conclusion of the consultations by the Standing Committee, prior to Bill 106 receiving Royal Assent in December 2015. This amendment to Bill 106 was said to be intended to prevent managers from using proxies to try to influence a vote to their benefit and to ensure a fair voting process.

The challenges with this restriction is that condo managers are often very much involved (and required) in the process of circulating, collecting and preserving proxies leading to an owners meeting.  The draft regulation proposed under the Condo Management Services Act (circulated earlier this year), helps shed some light on what can and cannot be done. If the regulation is adopted as it presently reads, what managers will be prohibited from doing is attempting to petition or try to directly obtain a proxy for a meeting of owners.

What managers will be able to do with proxies

Condo managers will however not be prevented from:

1. Collecting or holding proxies or providing a location in which proxies can be collected and held;
2. Notifying or reminding owners or mortgagees to submit proxies if they are unable to attend a meeting of the owners;
3. Making information available on how to submit proxies;
4. Providing proxy forms as part of anything that the corporation gives the owners or mortgagees (AGM packages, for instance);
5. Providing proxy forms to owners or mortgagees on requests.

This should allow condo managers to continue to assist with organizing and holding owners meeting. What they will not be able to do is actively campaign or solicit proxies.  This will be left to… owners and directors.

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Related posts:

• A summary of the ‘New Condo Act’
• Regulations to Regulate Condo Managers are out for consultation
• What will Ontario’s mandatory licensing of Condo Managers look like
• Condo Managers with a Limited Licence will have to work under supervision
• Managers under a General Licence
• Who will be exempt from the mandatory licensing of condo managers
• Complaints and disciplinary procedure against condo managers