Condo Conversation Corner - Spring 2025

Article from Volume 13, Issue Number 2, 2025

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Condo Conversation Corner - Spring 2025

By Alan Forbes | Other articles by Alan Forbes | Regular Column

In this edition, we have four topics of interest:

Urgent requests to CCI
Carbon tax rebates
Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs)
Mortgagees and condominium corporation records

Urgent requests for your AGM

We often get requests for information from members who are about to have their AGM. Here is a recent example

“Clarification is needed regarding:

— What is the term length for an elected board member according to The Condominium Act…. 1 year? 2 years? Or more?

— Can phone-in proxies be counted as votes during an election and obtained later?

— Who is NOT allowed to count votes?

This is an urgent request, so would appreciate hearing back from you today.”

Please note that CCI Manitoba is a volunteer-run organization and we don’t have staff at a help desk waiting to answer your questions. Also note that answers to your AGM questions can probably be found in your condominium corporation bylaws or in the provincial Condominium Act.

If you have questions about AGMs and proxies, note that we have covered the topic several times in the past few years in our newsletter. Go to our newsletter page, and type in proxy or proxies as a search term to learn more. Other useful keywords include governance, acclamation and election.

Carbon tax rebates

An inquiry came in regarding the consumer carbon tax:

— Is there a carbon tax rebate for condominium corporations on their heating bills on their buildings?

The short answer is: No.

The long answer is: Canadian condominium corporations are typically organized as non-profit organizations (NPOs) under the Income Tax Act (Canada). To qualify as an NPO, an organization must be operated exclusively for purposes other than profit, and no part of its income can be payable to or available for the personal benefit of its members. As NPOs, condominium corporations are generally exempt from income tax.

The Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses is a refundable tax credit introduced to return a portion of federal fuel charge proceeds directly to eligible Canadian-controlled private corporations (CCPCs). Eligibility for this rebate requires that the corporation:

Is a CCPC throughout the tax year.
Employs one or more individuals in a designated province during the fuel charge year.
Has 499 or fewer employees across Canada in the relevant calendar year.

Since condominium corporations are typically structured as non-profit organizations without share capital, they do not meet the definition of a CCPC. So they are not eligible for the Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses.

It’s important to note that individual residents of condominiums may still be eligible for personal carbon tax rebates, such as the Climate Action Incentive Payment, depending on their personal circumstances and provincial regulations.

Looking for NORCs

We wrote about Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) in our summer 2024 newsletter. We recently had an inquiry from a member who said: “You printed a fascinating article on NORCs. Are there any condominium developments in Winnipeg that are acknowledged as NORCs? I would be greatly interested in purchasing in such a development.”

We were not aware of any in Winnipeg or Manitoba, so we contacted the NORC Innovation Centre, which replied: “To your question about if we know if there are any NORCs in the province, well, the simple answer is we don’t know! But it is definitely something we would like to take on — NORC mapping across the country.”

So if any of our readers know of a NORC in existence in Manitoba or even know of one in the planning stages, please let us know.

Mortgagee and condominium corporation records

We had an inquiry from a condominium president who asked: “How do I get a unit owner to let me know who is holding the mortgage on his unit?”

The unit was being rented, so the owner was not on site and was unresponsive to inquiries. If the unit owner won’t answer your question, the only real option is to have the condominium corporation’s lawyer do a title search.

The provincial Condominium Act mentions mortgagees in numerous sections, such as for meeting notices:

Notice to be given to unit owners and mortgagees

116(4) The notice must be given within the required number of days to

(a) each unit owner who has notified the condominium corporation in writing of the owner's name and address for the giving of notices and other documents; and

(b) each unit mortgagee who

(i) under the terms of the mortgage is authorized to exercise the right of the unit owner to vote or give or withhold consent, and

(ii) has provided the condominium corporation with written notice of its name and address for the giving of notices and other documents.

They are also mentioned in one section in reference to the condominium corporation’s records:

A condominium corporation must keep records

131(1) A condominium corporation must keep complete and accurate records of the business and affairs of the corporation in accordance with the regulations, including the following records:....

(d) a list of the addresses for giving notices and other documents to those unit mortgagees who have provided that information to the corporation;

All told, The Condominium Act has 66 instances of “mortgagee” and the mortgagee definitely has rights as defined explicitly in the last part of Part 7 - Condominium Corporation Financial Matters in Section 165 Unit mortgagee's rights.

However, the condominium corporation’s rights to be informed of the mortgage and mortgagee are unclear, as The Condominium Act doesn’t seem to indicate a responsibility to keep the condominium corporation informed, even though it is in the best interest of the mortgagee to do so.

If you want to contribute to the discussion, you can submit a comment on our website or send us an email.

Disclaimer
CCI Manitoba is unable to provide specific legal advice. We recommend that you speak to a lawyer regarding the challenges or problems you may be experiencing. A list of lawyers who are Professional Members of the Manitoba Chapter of the Canadian Condominium Institute is available on our website.

Alan Forbes lives in a condominium and is a director of his condominium corporation. He also is a director of CCI Manitoba and is its vice-president.

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