About the Ontario Condo Information Centre

 

I began researching and writing this website during my last year as the president of a large high-rise (2002-2008). My original goal had been, and still is, to help condo owners understand their rights and responsibilities, the problems that can emerge, and how condos “work,” both physically and politically. In so doing, I was guided by my 30 years of condo experience and, especially, The Condominium Act, 1998 of Ontario. As well, I had consulted other provincial and territorial Acts to better understand the condo situation throughout the country.

However, the unexpected happened. After the first publication of this website (June 30, 2009), letters from desperate owners started arriving. Between July 2009 and December 31, 2015, at least 4,515 readers had sent letters, mainly about the problems they were facing in condos. Since then, as of the end of April 2017, 5,736 personos have sent letters.

Thus,  the letters have become more numerous and more varied...and more helpless... and they have served as the basis for the revisions and additions to the latest editions of this website. Some of the letters are posted in Readers Respond.

Strangely, now that the new Condo Act has passed (Bill 106) over a year and a half ago, the letters keep coming and  some are even more desperate than before. It is as if bad boards, managers, and some lawyers who all know that there is a new Act take a last advantage of owners.

I have approached the analysis of the letters received within the context of the research methods I have taught in university classes.

More recently, the letters have guided me when I became part of the Working Groups and later on, in 2014, the one owner on the Expert Panel that the Ministry of Consumer Services set up in order to be advised regarding the upgrading of the Condo Act. The other members of the 12-person Expert Panel were from the condo industries, particularly lawyers and management representatives. These lobby groups have a great deal of influence in the Liberal government.

 

Anne-Marie Ambert, Ph.D.
University Professor (Emerita)
www.yorku.ca/ambert

 

This website does not accept advertisements, nor does it promote condo-related companies and professional groups, so as to remain impartial and free of potential conflicts of interest.