What is changing come November 1, 2017?

We are only days away now from the next phase of amendments to the Condominium Act, 1998 (and other statutes) from the Protecting Condominium Owners Act, 2015 (Bill 106). The first phase created the Condominium Authority of Ontario (CAO), which is the authority responsible for overseeing the Condominium Act, 1998 and improving condominium living in Ontario. With so many changes described in Bill 106 and talk about phasing in the amendments, the question I am most often asked is "What is changing next?" According to the Ontario proclamation website, here are some of the amendments scheduled to come into force on November 1, 2017:

• The new Condominium Management Regulatory Authority of Ontario (CMRAO) and the mandatory licensing of condominium managers.
• The new information certificates (periodic information certificate, information certificate update, and the new owner information certificate).
• The new qualifications & disqualifications for directors, such as completing the new mandatory training and satisfying the disclosure obligations.
• Authorizing teleconferencing for board meetings without a by-law.
• The new process for calling owners' meetings (i.e. preliminary notice, formal notice of the meeting).
• Reducing quorum for owners' meetings after two unsuccessful attempts to achieve quorum.
• The new mandatory proxy forms for owners' meetings.
• Changes to the types of by-laws that may be made and reducing the approval level required for certain types of by-laws.
• Changes to the process for creating, repealing or amending rules.
• Decreasing the number of days owners have to notify the condominium of a lease of his/her unit from 30 days to 10 days.
• Various changes to make it clear that owners lose the right to vote for various voting issues (i.e. declaration amendment, amalgamation, termination) where they are in arrears for 30 days or more.
• Other housekeeping matters (i.e. updating the names of statutes mentioned in the Act, improving the French language version).

Despite being less than a week away, we still have not seen the new forms required to implement many of the changes above, like the information certificates, proxies, and disclosure form). The amendments to require condominiums to file returns (i.e. initial, turn-over, transitional, and annual) with the CAO's registrar will come into force on January 1, 2018. A new compliance order process will be created to authorize applications to the registrar in certain circumstances (i.e. failure to file returns). Other sections of the amendments are not scheduled to come into force until February 1, 2018. More of the Condominium Management Services Act (CMSA) will come into force, including the requirements for contracts, the disclosure of interests by managers, and record keeping. Another amendment is the prohibition on soliciting proxies where the election/removal of directors or another matter related to the manager is on the agenda. The complaints and discipline process will come into force as well, including the inspection and investigation powers of the CMRAO. Finally, the dates for hundreds of the amendments to the Condominium Act, 1998, (and the other statutes, like the Ontario New Homes Warranties Plan Act) have not been proclaimed yet. Earlier projections put the implementation date for the rest of the amendments in 2018, but only time will tell if all of the amendments are in force by the end of next year. For a full list of proclaimed dates, visit www.ontario.ca/laws/proclamations and search condominium. A list of the dates for all of the changes made by the Protecting Condominium Owners Act, 2015 will be listed.