Condominium Authority of Ontario (CAO) and CAT콘도 관리청과 콘도 심판소

What is the CAO?

The Condominium Authority of Ontario (CAO) is a not-for-profit organization designated by the Ontario government under the Condominium Act, 1998. Section 1.1 of the Act lets the government designate a not-for-profit corporation as the “condominium authority” and delegate parts of the Act to it. That section came into force on September 1, 2017, and the CAO is the body that holds the role today.

According to the Ontario government, the CAO is responsible for information about owners’ rights and responsibilities, mandatory training for condo directors, a database of condo corporation information, and a system to resolve disputes. The CAO describes its mandate as three pillars: information, education and dispute resolution.

What the CAO does

• Information: condo living guides, step-by-step help and letter templates for common issues, the official Condo Forms, and free guides. The CAO also writes Ontario’s Residential Condominium Buyers’ Guide, which a developer must give every pre-construction buyer (Condominium Act, section 72 (1) (b)). Your 10-day cooling-off period starts only after you have received this guide, the disclosure statement and the signed agreement.
• The Condo Registry: a public, searchable list of every condo corporation. It shows whether the corporation is meeting its filing requirements, who the declarant (developer) is, the current board of directors, the date of the last annual general meeting and more. Look up any resale condo before you buy.
• Director training: every condo director must complete the CAO’s mandatory training within six months of being elected or appointed, or they are disqualified (unless they completed it within the previous seven years). The training is free, online and open to anyone, so it is a good primer for buyers too.
• Filings and compliance: condo corporations must file returns and notices of change with the CAO and pay assessment fees. These fees are normally built into condo fees, so owners pay them indirectly; check the current amount on the CAO website. The CAO can issue Registrar’s Certificates and Compliance Orders to corporations that do not file, and section 136.2 of the Act makes non-compliance a provincial offence.
• Dispute resolution: it runs the Condominium Authority Tribunal (CAT), explained below.

What does the CAT decide?

The Condominium Authority Tribunal (CAT) is Canada’s first online tribunal. It hears prescribed disputes between condo corporations, owners, occupiers and mortgagees and can make binding orders (Condominium Act, sections 1.36 and 1.44). The Act and its regulations define which disputes it can hear. The CAO summarizes them this way.

What the CAT cannot hear

• Governance issues: how the board operates, board decisions, meeting quorum and voting.
• Financial disputes: budgets, condo fees and special assessments.
• Repair and maintenance disputes, and chargebacks or liens that relate to repair duties.
• Matters likely to cause damage to property or injury or illness to a person (Condominium Act, section 117 (1)), for example the health effects of smoking themselves.
• Disputes about agreements to modify the common elements (such as an electric vehicle charger), and disputes about title to property.
• For these, raise the issue in writing with the board, requisition a meeting with owners of 15% of the units, or talk to a lawyer about mediation, arbitration or a court application (section 134). Complaints about condo managers go to the CMRAO, builders to the HCRA, and new-home warranty claims to Tarion.

Fees and the three stages

1. Stage 1, Negotiation: file your application in the CAT’s online system and pay $25. Once the other side joins, the parties negotiate. If a respondent does not join, the case can move straight to Stage 3.
2. Stage 2, Mediation: if nothing is resolved, the applicant pays $50 to move to mediation. A Tribunal Member is assigned as mediator.
3. Stage 3, Adjudication: if mediation fails, the applicant pays $125 and a different Tribunal Member hears the case and issues an order.
4. The total for all three stages is $200. You pay each stage separately, so a case that settles early costs less. You do not need a lawyer or paralegal, and the CAO publishes a Guide for Self-Represented Parties. A corporation can be represented by its manager or a director.

Deadlines and orders

An application must be made within two years after the dispute arose (section 1.36 (6)). The CAT may extend this by up to one more year if the delay was in good faith and no one is substantially prejudiced.

The CAT can order a party to comply, to do or stop doing something, to pay compensation for damages up to the greater of $25,000 or a prescribed amount, and to pay costs (section 1.44 (1)). It can order a corporation that refused records without a reasonable excuse to pay a penalty of up to $5,000 (section 1.44 (3)). It cannot order anyone to leave a property permanently (section 1.44 (4)).

You can view previous CAT decisions and orders on the CAO website. Searching the name of a condo corporation you are considering can show what disputes that building has had at the CAT.

Example