Suggestions to Improve the MB Condo Act - Winter 2021

Article from Volume 8, Issue Number 1, 2021

Suggestions to Improve the MB Condo Act - Winter 2021

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

When we refer to the Manitoba Condo Act we often use the term “the New Condo Act” but it isn’t really that new anymore - it came into effect in 2015. Many other Provinces have amended their respective Acts in the past few years. Perhaps it is time for us to get ours updated and more importantly get it improved. Towards this end, CCI Manitoba has a section on its website for you to submit suggestions for improving the Provincial Condo Act - here is a link https://cci-manitoba.ca/resources/the-condominium-act-suggestions-for-improvement. We have started posting these ‘suggestions for improvement’ in our quarterly Condominium News and Views. In case you missed the improvement suggestions in the prior edition, have a look at https://cci-manitoba.ca/sites/default/uploads/files/CCI-MB-Newsletter-2020-Fall.pdf.

For reference, the Province has a website with a guide to the Act along with links to the Act itself, and the associated regulation and various related forms. The website link is https://www.gov.mb.ca/condo/. If you are a current director of your condo corporation, it would be useful to have the link as one of your favorites. Questions from other directors or unit owners come up in relation to governance, by-laws, AGMs, etc. and you will likely find that you often have to refer to the Condo Act to answer these types of questions.

RECENT SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT & QUESTIONS

When an owner has a dispute with the condo corporation in Manitoba, there is really no place to go. Manitoba needs some kind of dispute resolution mechanism to support both condo owners and condo boards. Other provinces have tribunals set up

a. Ontario has one https://www.condoauthorityontario.ca/tribunal/
b. Alberta has one in process https://www.alberta.ca/condominium-dispute-resolution-engagement.aspx
c. BC was the first province to have one https://civilresolutionbc.ca/how-the-crt-works/getting-started/strata-solution-explorer/
In the May 2016 Newsletter there is anarticle by Lori Ricard and Rob Giesbrecht indicating that a "review engagement" is an option instead of doing a full audit. The ACT and Regulation should be updated to make this option explicit.
Your improvement idea to be displayed here!