Condo insurance premiums are maintaining their elevated pace, which began around a year ago, as a consequence of extreme weather events, says LowestRates.ca.   Read the entire article……………………………….

Dear Tony:  Our owners approved funds to replace one roof in our complex. We have three buildings, each with 28 units and the roofing is in the same condition.    Read the Q&A……………………………….

Dear Tony: Our strata council has planned to use our local church hall for our annual general meeting.  They have advised anyone attending will be required to provide proof of double vaccines more than 30 days prior to the meeting and that everyone must wear a mask if they are attending the meeting, or they […]

A TikTok video posted by a Toronto woman is going viral exposing the living conditions in a well-known condo building that she said she couldn’t wait to escape.  The video, featuring clips taken inside Ice Condos, located at 12 York Street, garnered 300,000 likes on TikTok after it posted last month and was soon shared […]

Dear Tony:  Our strata council has sent a notice out to owners advising we are only limited to a small elections window sign shown from our strata lots and no signs on common property.    Read the Q&A……………………….

With the announcement of a fall federal election, many strata corporations in BC are left questioning what can they control when it comes to election signage and canvassing.  Read the entire article……………………………….

Dear Tony:  Our townhouse complex in Burnaby recently hired a roofing company to correct several leaks identified in the early spring storms. The contractor discovered a number of locations near the caps where the shingling was installed incorrectly. The error was easily remedied but required inspections of all roofs and cost our strata $6,500 of […]

Sandycove Acres resident Bill Brocklebank foresees a big problem when it comes to the County of Simcoe’s new automated garbage carts, which officially roll out Nov. 1.  Residents will receive three universal carts — a 360-litre cart for recycling, a 240-litre cart for garbage, and a 120-litre cart for organics — which are emptied using […]

Dear Tony: Our strata corporation had a flood in our 52 unit building almost 2 years ago. It was caused by an owner who renovated their kitchen resulting from a breached water line from mounting screws. The leak was not noticed until the next morning and there was over $75,000 damages to 3 strata lots.  […]

Under the Strata Property Act, a strata corporation is permitted to issue a special levy for the common expense of an insurance deductible without requiring a three-quarter vote at an annual or special general meeting.   Read the entire article……………………………….

Dear Tony:  Our strata council president recently posted a notice in our building indicating 10 additional parking spaces available for sale at a rate of $15,000 from the strata corporation.    Read the Q&A………………………………..

Dear Tony: At our recent annual meeting, we had 5 resolutions on the agenda that included repairs to our roof to come from our contingency fund. This was a repair that was necessary around the skylights of the townhouses for waterproofing, and it was recommended in our most recent depreciation report. Unfortunately, the writer of […]

John English has had no response to a letter he sent Colwood council criticizing a property tax decision, but that might be because the retired government staffer isn’t on Twitter.  His letter, sent on behalf of the Royal Bay Homeowners Association, protested a move to exempt five acres of land in Royal Bay from paying […]

Climate change is certainly affecting our lifestyles to a greater extent as each year passes and building designs did not anticipate the heat loading and cycles of cooling required to comfortably function for the future.   Read the entire article……………………………….

Prices for condo insurance — or strata insurance, as it’s known in B.C. — recorded double-digit increases in B.C. and Alberta and a nine per cent jump in Ontario in the first three months of 2021 compared with the same period in 2020, according to data published by financial products comparisons site LowestRates.ca.    Read the […]

Renovation hell: kitchen makeover causes flood at Vancouver highrise, owner liable for $41,000 costs.  But instead of a dream home makeover, the project turned into a nightmare.  A work performed during the renovation caused a massive flood at the Vancouver highrise.    Read the entire article……………………………….

Condo insurance rates in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, which have already risen substantially, are expected to keep rising, according to a report from LowestRates.ca.    Read the entire article……………………………….

The strata refused, citing privacy and safety concerns, and said it was not in the best interests of the strata community. But the law obligates stratas to compile a list and to distribute it when asked, a tribunal ruled   Read the entire article……………………………….

Every strata corporation suffers wear and tear on its capital. To account for that and plan an orderly replacement, each strata needs to have a plan as to the amount projected to be spent on capital replacement each year. In B.C., the Contingency Reserve Fund is intended to fund common expenses occurring less often than […]

One of the things that most impressed observers of the storm damage at Innisfil’s Sandycove Acres adult lifestyle community was the level of co-operation and teamwork while responding to the emergency.  As resident Linda Morris noted, “Between the actions of Parkbridge, the Sandycove Home Owners Association, the first-responders and the other residents not affected by […]

A resident of a Metrotown condo in Burnaby is considering filing her own complaint after B.C.’s privacy commissioner told a different strata corporation to stop using security surveillance system data for purposes other than which it was collected, such as viewing people in a hot tub.   Read the entire article……………………………….

Dear Tony: We are retiring this year and considering downsizing to a condo. We have started looking at both new and existing properties around Vancouver and Victoria, but we encounter challenges with both options. New developments are often available only through presales and the time periods for completion would require us to sell, rent until […]

The owner of the music school says the business was one of the first residents in the Richmond strata development.  As for the homeowners who later bought into the condo complex, the proprietor noted that they knew there was a music school in their midst.   Read the entire article……………………………….

Ontario is moving into Step 3 of the reopening plan tomorrow, allowing the use of indoor sports and recreational fitness facilities. And although many Toronto condo residents are itching to get back to using their building’s currently shuttered gym or pool, those amenities may not necessarily reopen right away.  Read the entire article……………………………….

Ewelina Bednarek no longer lives at the Coquitlam condo she bought in 2018.  Neither does her pet dog Tequila, a pit bull terrier mix.  Bednarek sold the condo earlier this year, but she has some unfinished business to settle.    Read the entire article……………………………….

About 140 residents were forced out of a four-story, 70-unit building on Windermere Road on Friday after the parking garage flooded due to a water main break.   Read the entire article……………………………….

Civil resolution tribunal found that because one of the owners had a disability made worse by second-hand smoke, the strata had a higher “duty to accommodate” her   Read the entire article……………………………….

A pair of Burnaby condo owners have won a victory over upstairs neighbours who reportedly ruined their sleep with excessive noise at least 16 times last year.  Yang Chu and Felix Tan own a 19th-floor apartment at Park 360, a 29-storey apartment highrise in the Edmonds area, according to a recent B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal […]

A Toronto nurse is speaking out after her condo management company told her she’ll have to get rid of her dog in a matter of days because the animal weighs too much.  Lindsay McCarthy, who works at a hospital in the city, rescued Poppy in December 2020 when the dog was just six months old. […]

Dear Tony: With the growing heat and climate change many of the owners in our older highrise building are seeking permission to install air conditioners either in windows or as heat pumps with external mounted air circulations systems.    Read the Q&A………………………………

At least four Canadians from three different families are unaccounted for after the deadly collapse of a Miami-area condo building, the federal government said Sunday as the official death toll in the incident rose to nine.   Read the entire article……………………………….

The strata coffers are mostly empty at Koret Lofts in Gastown after the council used its reserve funds to try to lessen the blow of a more than 300 per cent hike to the insurance rate and soaring deductible fees that condo owners have faced since 2019.  “This has devastated our finances, to the point […]

A judge has ruled $75,000 be paid to the strata council and its members of Tiki Shores Condominium Beach Resort in Penticton, after mishandling of funds by its previous management and majority owner.  Justice Lindsay Lyster published the judgment June 15, following 13 years of protracted legal filings between the parties involved that led to […]

Question: The owners in our condominium building are updating the bylaws. I know that we need 75 per cent of the owners and unit factors to approve the changes. Can the changes be submitted to the owners as “approve all or nothing?”    Read the Q&A……………………………….

Insurance costs for condo and townhouse owners in Langley are stabilizing or dropping, a relief to residents who were hit with staggering cost increases in recent years.    Read the entire article……………………………….

Calgary fire crews responded to an unusual incident in downtown Calgary Wednesday morning, and it has prompted a reminder about the “potentially deadly” dangers of high winds.   Read the entire article……………………………….

Hundreds of residents in a downtown Toronto condo tower have been baking in the heat since mid-May — due to a broken cooling system that building management says won’t be fixed for another two weeks.  “The highest we’ve gotten is probably around 38 Celsius,” seventh floor resident Jake Hamilton said. “I’m working from home and […]

Life in a condominium can be maintenance-free, but no one ever said it’s rule-free. With so many residents owning and sharing common space, law and order must prevail.  Every owner belongs to the condo corporation, that body which also makes and enforces the bylaws informing how the property is operated and maintained. A volunteer board […]

Torontonians are stuck at home. Still.  According to Statistics Canada, at the beginning of the year, some 32 per cent of Canadians worked mostly from home compared to four per cent in 2016. And it’s not just work. These days, the buildings many call home are filling in as the gym, the school, the restaurant, […]

Living in a condominium community requires a balancing of the interests of those who live there. But when it comes to residents who refuse to wear masks during a pandemic, the courts have to decide whose rights will prevail.    Read the entire article……………………………….