Ontario updates condo Act, lowers cost of dispute resolution: CP exclusive

By Keith Leslie, The Canadian Press

The 1.3 million Ontario residents who live in condominiums will get a new, less expensive way to resolve disputes under proposed legislation to be introduced Wednesday.

The province will create a Condominium Authority to provide a range of services including dispute resolution, so condo owners won’t have to go to court to clear up a disagreement with a neighbour or their condo board.

Consumer Services Minister David Orazietti told The Canadian Press that the Authority will be funded by fees paid by condo developers and by a $1 a month levy on individual condo owners.

It will provide advice for condo owners along with mediation services to resolve disputes such as noise complaints, bylaw infractions or an inability to get financial documents from the condo board of directors.

Orazietti says the costs of settling condo disputes should be reduced to hundreds of dollars instead of thousands of dollars, and will not need to involve expensive court time.

The province will also create the Condo Manager Licensing Authority to provide training and regulate the 2,500 people who manage the 10,000 condominium developments in Ontario, which have about 700,000 individual units.

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