We wrote to the Standing Policy Committee on Property and Development, Heritage, and Downtown Development (SPC-PDHD) asking to be included in their stakeholder consultations as we could provide the perspectives from condominium owners, investors, boards and residents, along with the perspectives of our professional members and business partners.

In the past year I set up a GIC-ladder in our condo corporation’s (CC’s) reserve fund to counteract the meager interest rates payable in most savings accounts. First, I determined the surplus in the account in relation to our needs over the next five years, taking into account our projections for reserve fund contributions (RFCs) and the projected spending based on our current reserve fund study (RFS). Given that interest rates are likely going up over the next few years, I then split the surplus amount into five lumps and invested each lump in a GIC, with terms of one, two, three, four and five years. The plan is to follow a similar thought process to rollover principal and interest into five year GICs along with any additional surplus each year onward.

We wrote to the Standing Policy Committee on Water and Waste, Riverbank Management and the Environment (SPC-WWRME) offering our involvement to come up with a MFWD fee that would be fair and equitable to condo corporations and their unit owners, residents, tenants and investors. We did receive a favorable response from the Committee Chair, Councilor Mayes, and subsequently had a Zoom meeting with him on March 22nd. The meeting was cordial and informative, and Councilor Mayes has since put us in touch with the appropriate City Staff. He indicated he will keep us apprised of any developments, but didn’t expect any meaningful activity until after the fall municipal elections.

If you've experienced a water leak, you might be ahead in the water leak detection game. Prior experience of discovering a water leak, cleaning up the mess, dealing with repairs and insurance is not something anyone wants to repeat. Motivation is never so keen as when you’re ankle deep in water.

The collapse of the Champlain Towers condo in south Florida highlights the critical role of condominium corporation (CC) directors in maintaining a safe and healthy environment for their fellow residents. Startling before and after images highlight the scope of the damage, from which you can easily see why there are so many dead and missing https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/interactive-see-after-photos-florida-condo-building-collapse-n1272299.

In this article, we want to explore a condominium solar panel project.  To that end, we found Bruce Mackenzie, who in 2015 was the Central Park Condominium President in Victoria, BC.  As a self-professed “energy geek”, he decided the time was right to explore solar panels for his Victoria, BC condominium.  ¹

Planning on hosting or attending a Grey Cup Party this year? Here are a few favourite recipes from some of our members. If you’d like to contribute your favourite recipes regardless of the occasion, just send us an email ccimanitoba@cci.ca.

• Slow Cooke Baked Beans
• Caesar Dressing
• Spinach Dip
• Quick Rum Cake

This was a re-publication of an article from CondoBusiness from the REMI Network

The old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is applicable to the insurance market. If you want to reduce the pressure on ever-increasing insurance premiums, look for ways to prevent having to make claims and look to mitigate the various risks to persons and property. Consider putting together a risk mitigation plan for your condo corporation and show it to your insurance broker and ask for their feedback. They will be happy to help you because lowering your claims risk is a win-win situation for both parties.

So you joined the Board of your Condominium Corporation (CC) and ended up as Treasurer even though you are not an accountant. Do you sometimes feel lost, overwhelmed, or unsure how to provide value to your CC and the owners? Here are some lessons learned from someone in the same situation.³

There was a meeting of the Standing Policy Committee on Property and Development, Heritage, and Downtown Development (SPC-PDHDD) on Oct 23, 2021. The presentation compares and contrasts the options for regulating short term rentals (STRs) versus short term rental platforms, such as AirBnB and Vrbo. 

In our Fall 2021 Newsletter, we raised the issue of waste diversion fees being applied to condo unit owners for corporations with more than seven units in the City of Winnipeg. The good news is that the proposal has been dropped for the 2022 budget. But this is also bad news because the program doesn’t have sustainable funding so that means property tax funding will continue to be used.

In our Summer 2021 Newsletter edition, we had a short article about the collapse of the Champlain Towers in Surfside Florida. This article continues the thought process by trying to put yourself in the mind of a director for that doomed condominium corporation. Hopefully doing so will lead to more thoughtful action at your condo corporation.