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What Documents Must be Included with the Periodic Information Certificate?

Most are already familiar with the requirement to send out Periodic Information Certificates (PICs) to condo owners in Ontario.  PICs must be sent twice a year (thankfully down from the initially contemplated 4) and must be prepared in accordance with regulation.  Thankfully, the province of Ontario has made things easier by issuing the form to be used. You can find all prescribed forms here.

Still, in addition to completing the form, the regulation requires that certain documents be included with PICs. This post is about the three (potentially four) documents that must be included with your PICs.

The annual budget

Section 11.1(1)k) of the General regulation requires that corporations include a copy of the corporation’s budget for the current fiscal year and a copy of any amendments to it. This one is easily forgotten because the prescribed PIC form does not expressly reminds you to include the budget with the PIC!

Certificate of insurance

As provided under section 76(1)p) of the Act, the corporation must include a copy of any certificate or memorandum of insurance for each of the current insurance policies. If no certificate or memorandum of insurance is included with the PIC, the Corporation must explain why.

Compliance order

The corporation must also include a copy of any order made by the Registrar directing the corporation, a director or an officer to comply with the requirement to pay the CAO fee, to file the required CAO returns or (when it comes into force) to comply with an arbitration award.  Any such order must be included with the PIC unless the order is being appealed to the Licence Appeal Tribunal or unless the order has already been included in a prior PIC. It seems, therefore, that such compliance order need to be included only once in a PIC. I’m not sure I agree with this. You would think that the order ought to be included until it is complied with. Be as it may be, this is how the provision reads.

Director Disclosure

Section 11.1(1)(i) of the General Regulation provides that the corporation must also include with the PICs a copy of the statements and information directors have disclosed to the board in the current fiscal year.

We have already blogged on the disclosure obligations imposed on directors. We have also developed an easy-to-use form your directors can use to comply with such disclosure obligation.

One of the question then becomes, must such disclosure statement be included with every PIC? Some feel that repeatedly sending such disclosure to owners, twice a year with the PIC (in addition to having often been disclosed in the AGM package), is an unnecessary duplication and that it may confuse owners.

“Why am I receiving this disclosure? Has this director’s status changed? Is one of my directors not in full compliance with some of their ethical obligations?”

Considering that this disclosure may end up being sent to owners three times within a single fiscal year, it is hard to argue with those who find that this exercise is a waste of paper. Still, the fact of the matter is that there are numerous occasions throughout the year when this disclosure may take place:

  • If there is a change in the director’s situation;
  • If a director is appointed by the board to fill a vacancy;
  • When directors advises of their intent to run for a position on the board;
  • When a director is nominated from the floor at an owners’ meeting.

As such, it makes sense to collate and include the information in a PIC at least once a year. But must we include it in every PIC?

Consider the following:

Clue #1: The PIC provides for a ‘check box” which seems to indicated that the Corporation may or may not include the disclosure with the PIC.

Clue #2:  Unlike the requirement to include an insurance certificate, the form does not require a mandatory explanation if the disclosure is not included.

Clue #3:  The regulation expressly provided that compliance order are to be sent only once but does not have this language when dealing with director disclosure. This could lead the reader to conclude that the province’s intent was to include the disclosure with each PIC.

While the regulation can probably be read both ways, we’re of the view that the present wording of section 11.1(1)i) of the General Regulation requires that you include the disclosure in every PIC. Yet another reason to encourage owners to accept electronic notifications or to have your PICs uploaded to a web portal. 

Additional document

The corporation must also include any additional documents or information required by any by-law adopted by the corporation.

Summary

Here’s a summary of what documents you should include with your PIC:

  • The annual budget
  • The certificate(s) of insurance
  • Any compliance order
  • Director disclosure forms
  • Any additional documents provided for by by-law

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