The Board of Directors is apparently having a very difficult time understanding provisions within the Condominium Act relating to replacement of the front windows in our building. This matter has been addressed in a previous post which clearly states that the building is responsible for front window replacement as a common area expense. Common area is specifically and clearly defined  in the Registered Plan of the building. It raises serious questions as to why the Board of Directors finds such a clearly defined provision to be so difficult to understand. I would suggest that the Board simply finds the the facts of the matter much more difficult to accept as opposed to finding it difficult to understand.

The front windows have always been and continue to be part of the common area of the building and therefore any replacement is therefore a common area expense to be paid by the Corporation, not the unit owner. All front windows in the past have been, following a report by the owner of the damage, inspected and approval given to replace the window at the building’s expense. The building then seeks the best price (approximately $1000 per window) and arranges installation at the convenience of the unit owner.  Where an owner has chosen to replace a window without reporting damage and requesting replacement, they are of course responsible for the cost.

There has apparently been one window replaced in the past year, and approximately six or seven replaced over the past twenty years. These have all been damaged windows where the owner has reported the damage, an inspection conducted, and the window replaced at the building’s expense. There have been NO costs incurred by unit owners where they have reported a damaged window and requested replacement. Therefore, there are no refunds to consider.

It is important to note, that several of our residents attended and participated in a disussion of window replacement at a recent CCI meeting. The meeting confirmed that where the Condominium Act defines the front windows as common area, as is clearly the case in our building, the cost of replacement is the responsibility of the building. The CCI is certainly qualified with its legal resources in making this determination.

At the 2013 Annual General Meeting, a resolution was approved to have the  Spadina  Condominium Corporation purchase a membership in the local chapter of the Canadian Condominium Institute (CCI). The board was rather reluctant to support the purchase of this membership, however residents were overwhelmingly supportive of this membership which had been rejected by the board for a number of years. Contrary to the position of the board, the CCI is a very strong and well respected organization, representing the many interests of condominium owners across Canada. The benefits of membership are many.

Since obtaining this membership last fall, there have been a number of written communications issued by the local chapter to its members, some of them being of an urgent nature and requesting the input of condominium owners. Unfortunately, our residents received none of those communications that would have been received by our Board of Directors.

Fortunately, we have several residents in our building who contacted the CCI on their own and were able to obtain a copy of these communications and provide a response to the CCI’s request for input from residents. These residents met personally with CCI board members and voiced their opinion on a number of matters of interest and concern to our building’s residents.

These residents, having discovered on their own what the southern Saskatchewan  chapter of the CCI had accomplished for its members, voiced their support to our Chapter to obtain the same benefits for residents in our northern chapter. This includes:

Obtaining a refund for garbage removal services for which unit owners pay for in our taxes but do not receive because  we contract and pay for this service ourselves.  This refund is estimated to be $25 to $50 per unit per month, which would result in a substantial cost saving to our building.

The CCI has agreed to pursue this cost saving measure.

The local chapter of the CCI, has also been an active participant in the preparation of new and amended Regulations to the Condominium Property Act.  Unfortunately, our residents did not receive any CCI materials from our board which included an invitation to residents for their participation in the review process. However, several of our residents were able to find this information through their own efforts and did in fact participate directly in the review of these Regulations. Through both meetings with and written submissions to the Justice Ministry, our residents had an opportunity to provide their input.

The efforts of our residents who have participated in these matters on their own initiative, have ensured that their voice has been heard and will continue to be heard in the future. It is through such efforts, that benefits such as those previously mentioned can be realized for the benefit of all unit owners.