The Condominium Act, 1998

PART IV, Sections 16 to 26

CORPORATION

(1) The corporation shall have a seal that the board shall adopt and may change.

Name

(2) The name of the corporation shall appear in legible characters on the seal.

Section 17.

(1) The objects of the corporation are to manage the property and the assets, if any, of the corporation on behalf of the owners.

Duties

(2) The corporation has a duty to control, manage and administer the common elements and the assets of the corporation.

Ensuring compliance

(3) The corporation has a duty to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the owners, the occupiers of units, the lessees of the common elements and the agents and employees of the corporation comply with this Act, the declaration, the by-laws and the rules.

Section 18.

(1) The corporation may own, acquire, encumber and dispose of real and personal property only for purposes that are consistent with the objects and duties of the corporation.

Interest in assets

(2) The owners share the assets of the corporation in the same proportions as the proportions of their common interests in accordance with this Act, the declaration and the by-laws.

Validity of easement

(3) A grant or transfer of an easement to the corporation is valid even though the corporation does not own land capable of being benefited by the easement.

Section 19.

On giving reasonable notice, the corporation or a person authorized by the corporation may enter a unit or a part of the common elements of which an owner has exclusive use at any reasonable time to perform the objects and duties of the corporation or to exercise the powers of the corporation.

Section 20.

(1) An easement described in subsection (2) is created,

(a) upon the registration of a declaration and description that creates a corporation, if the easement is described in the declaration and description; or

(b) upon the registration of an amendment to a declaration and description that creates a phase within the meaning of Part XI in a phased condominium corporation, if the easement is described in the amendment.

(2) Subsection (1) applies to an easement that,

(a) imposes a benefit or a burden on land owned by the declarant other than the property; or

(b) the approval authority requires as a condition of approving the declaration and description for the corporation.

(3) No deed or other document is required to be registered or delivered to the owner of the land benefited by an easement that is created under subsection (1) in order for the easement to be made effective.

Validity of easement

(4) An easement that is created under subsection (1) is valid even though the declarant owns the land to be benefited or burdened by the easement in addition to owning the land relating to the easement that is described in the description.

Section 21.

(1) The corporation may by by-law,

(a) lease a part of the common elements, except a part that the declaration specifies is to be used only by the owners of one or more designated units and not by all the owners; or

(b) grant or transfer an easement or licence through the common elements.

(2) A lease, grant or transfer mentioned in subsection (1), signed by the authorized officers of the corporation, affects the interest of every owner in the common elements as if the lease, grant or transfer had been executed by that owner.

Section 22.

(1) In this section,

"telecommunications" means the emission, transmission or reception of any combination of signs, signals, writing, images, sound, data, alphanumeric characters or intelligence of any nature by wire, cable, radio or an optical, electromagnetic or any similar technical system; ("télécommunications")

"telecommunications agreement" means an agreement for the provision of services or facilities related to telecommunications to, from or within the property of a corporation and includes a grant or transfer of an easement, lease or licence through the property of a corporation for the purposes of telecommunications. ("convention concernant les télécommunications")

By-law not required

(2) Despite subsection 21 (1), a corporation may, by resolution of the board without a by-law,

(a) make an agreement for a network upgrade to a telecommunications system that services the units of the corporation;

(b) make an agreement for a telecommunications system that is not connected to a telecommunications system that services the units of the corporation; or

(c) amend an agreement for a telecommunications system that services the units of the corporation to permit the other party to the agreement to supply and invoice part or all of the services directly to the unit owners.

(3) Subsections 97 (3), (4), (5) and (6) apply to an agreement described in subsection (2) as if it were a change in a service that a corporation provides to the owners.

Charge to unit owners

(4) The cost of the services that are invoiced directly to the unit owners under clause (2) (c) shall not form part of the common expenses, despite anything in the declaration.

Telecommunications easement

(5) A corporation and a party, if any, that has entered into a telecommunications agreement with the corporation shall have a non-exclusive easement over the part of the property described in clause (b) for the purpose of installing and using a telecommunications system if,

(a) the corporation was created on or after the day this section comes into force and includes one or more units for residential purposes;

(b) part of the property is designed to control, facilitate or provide telecommunications to, from or within the property; and

(c) the corporation does not have an easement over the property described in the description or a right to use the property that is adequate for,

(i) the telecommunications agreement that it has entered into with respect to the property, if it has entered into such an agreement, or

(ii) the telecommunications system that the corporation intends to install and use on the property, if it has not entered into a telecommunications agreement with respect to the property.

(6) If a telecommunications system installed on the part of the property described in clause (5) (b) interferes with a telecommunications system that the corporation intends to have installed and to use on the property described in the description, the owner of the part of the property shall, upon 30 days written notice by the owner of the easement described in subsection (5), take all necessary steps that are reasonable to accommodate the intended telecommunications system.

Validity of easement

(7) The easement is valid even though the corporation and the party, if any, that has entered into a telecommunications agreement with the corporation own no land to be benefited by the easement.

Easements non-exclusive

(8) If the property of a corporation that includes one or more units for residential purposes is subject to an easement for the purposes of telecommunications and at least 10 years have passed since the later of the execution of the grant of the easement and the registration of the declaration and description, then, despite anything in the grant, the easement shall be deemed to be non-exclusive.

Termination of agreements

(9) A corporation that includes one or more units for residential purposes may terminate a telecommunications agreement if,

(a) at least 10 years have passed since the later of the execution of the agreement and the registration of the declaration and description;

(b) the board has, by resolution, approved the termination of the agreement;

(c) the owners of more than 50 per cent of the units at the time the board passes the resolution consent in writing to the termination of the agreement; and

(d) the corporation has given the person 120 days written notice of the termination.

(10) Subsection (9) does not apply to a telecommunications agreement if,

(a) the corporation entered into the agreement after a new board is elected at a turn-over meeting held under section 43;

(b) the agreement is non-exclusive; and

(c) the agreement makes allowance for the installation of alternate telecommunications systems.

(11) If, under subsection (9), a corporation terminates a telecommunications agreement, a party to the agreement may, on giving reasonable notice to the corporation, remove personal property that it owns and that is located on the property that was subject to the agreement within 30 days after the termination of the agreement.

Duties on removal

(12) A party removing personal property under subsection (11) shall,

(a) carry out the removal in a manner that facilitates the installation of other similar personal property for the purposes of telecommunications; and

(b) reimburse the corporation for the damage, if any, that the removal causes to the property of the corporation.

(13) A party to a telecommunications agreement that has the right to remove its personal property under subsection (11) shall be deemed to have abandoned the property if it does not remove the property within the time specified in that subsection.

Section 23.

(1) Subject to subsection (2), in addition to any other remedies that a corporation may have, a corporation may, on its own behalf and on behalf of an owner,

(a) commence, maintain or settle an action for damages and costs in respect of any damage to common elements, the assets of the corporation or individual units; and

(b) commence, maintain or settle an action with respect to a contract involving the common elements or a unit, even though the corporation was not a party to the contract in respect of which the action is brought.

(2) Before commencing an action mentioned in subsection (1), the corporation shall give written notice of the general nature of the action to all persons whose names are in the record of the corporation maintained under subsection 47 (2) except if,

(a) the action is to enforce a lien of the corporation under section 85 or to fulfil its duty under subsection 17 (3); or

(b) the action is commenced in the Small Claims Court.

(3) Unless the board determines otherwise, the legal and court costs in an action that the corporation commences or maintains in whole or in part on behalf of any owners in respect of their units shall be borne by those owners in the proportion in which their interests are affected.

Judgment as asset

(4) A judgment for payment in favour of the corporation in an action that the corporation commences or maintains on its own behalf is an asset of the corporation.

Corporation may be sued

(5) The corporation may, as representative of the owners of the units, be sued in respect of any matter relating to the common elements or assets of the corporation.

Judgment against corporation

(6) A judgment for the payment of money against the corporation is also a judgment against each owner at the time of judgment for a portion of the judgment determined by the proportions specified in the declaration for sharing the common interests.

Section 24.

(1) For the purposes of the Expropriations Act, if the land to be expropriated is part of the common elements of a corporation and does not include any units, any document that an expropriating authority is required or entitled to serve on the owner of the land, including a notice, an appraisal report and an offer of compensation, is sufficiently served on the owners of the land if the expropriating authority serves the document,

(a) on the corporation; and

(b) if the land to be expropriated is part of the common elements that the declaration specifies are for the exclusive use of the owners of one or more of the units of the corporation, but not all the owners, on the owners of those units.

(2) Within 15 days of being served with a document under subsection (1), the corporation shall notify all persons whose names are in the record of the corporation maintained under subsection 47 (2) that it has been served with a document for the purposes of the Expropriations Act and shall make a copy of the document available for examination by them.

Corporation acting for owners

(3) For the purposes of the Expropriations Act, all the rights under that Act of the owners of the land to be expropriated in respect of which a document has been served on the corporation under subsection (1) shall be transferred to and exercised by the corporation, subject to section 126.

Section 25.

A corporation that is served with a notice under the Planning Act shall, within 15 days of being served, notify all persons whose names are in the record of the corporation maintained under subsection 47 (2) that it has been served with a notice under that Act and shall make a copy of the notice available for examination by them.

Section 26.

For the purposes of determining liability resulting from breach of the duties of an occupier of land, the corporation shall be deemed to be the occupier of the common elements and the owners shall be deemed not to be occupiers of the common elements.