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New Info on the Education and Examination Requirements for Condo Managers

Ontario held a press conference on July 25, 2017, to announce new protections for condo residents, to be implemented this fall. This is great (but somewhat old) news. What’s new is that we now know more about the education and examination requirements for Condo managers.

Today’s announcement

In today’s press release the Minister of Government and Consumer Services Tracy MacCharles announced the following new protections for condo communities taking effect this fall.  We’ve embedded below links to prior posts on each of these initiatives:

  • Regular mandatory updates about the condo corporation to help improve communication between boards and owners;
  • Improving condo corporation governance and addressing conflicts of interests by introducing new disclosure requirements for directors, including whether they are owners or occupiers of units in the condo or if they have interests in contracts involving the corporation;
  • Mandatory training for condo directors to improve how condos are managed and operated.  Apparently, such training will be available on-line and will be relatively short to take. By the way, the way I read it, directors elected or appointed before this mandatory training comes into force, will likely be exempted until their next election/appointment (unless you were elected/appointed in the context of a turn over meeting) — confusing yet?;
  • Clearer rules to make it easier for condo owners to access records of their condo corporation;
  • New notices when calling AGMs and new quorum and voting rules to make it easier for owners to participate in owners’ meetings;
  • Mandatory education requirements for condo managers applying for a general licence.

The government has also announced that it is designating two new administrative authorities. In fact, these authorities have already launched their websites.  The Condo Authority will be designated as of September 1st. The Condo Management Regulatory Authority will be designated as of November 1st, 2017.  All of this is in line with the scheduled implementation of many of the changes coming down the pike.

New Information on Education and Examinations Requirements for CMs

What is somewhat new (at least as of July 20, 2017) is that the minister has officially designated some of the educational and examination requirements for individuals applying for a Condo Manager’s licence.  At this stage, only the Minister may make these designations. Eventually, this authority will be passed down to the CMRAO.

Starting November 1st, 2017, all eligible condo managers will have 90 days to apply for a licence under the Condo Management Services Act.  During this period, managers will be deemed to automatically have one of the transitional licences.

Condo Managers with less than 5 years of experience in providing condo management services will have to take the following courses developed by ACMO:

  1. Condominium Law;
  2. Physical Building Management;
  3. Financial Planning for Condo Managers; and,
  4. Condo Administration and Human Relations.

Managers will be able to take these courses with any college of applied arts and technology providing such courses or with any condo management provider authorized by ACMO to offer such courses to the provider’s employees.

Condo Managers with 5 years or more of experience in providing condo management services will be able to take the same courses or will be able to challenge the test developed and administered by ACMO.

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