Province Introduces Bill 159: The Rebuilding Consumer Confidence Act, 2019

On December 6^th, the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services introduced Bill 159: The Rebuilding Consumer Confidence Act, 2019. Bill 159 affects 10 Acts, including the Condominium Act, 1998, Condominium Management Services Act, and several related to the changes coming to Tarion. The changes to the Condominium Act, 1998, relate to matters around the administration and duties of the CAO. You can learn more by viewing the government’s official announcement or by reading Bill 159 directly.  

Effective January 1, 2020, the CAO will be delegated responsibility for 17 of the most commonly used forms. In addition, the government will soon be consulting with the public on:

• expanding the scope of disputes that can be heard by the Condominium Authority Tribunal;
• requiring the CAO to develop a condo guide for buyers and require developers to provide it at the point of purchase;
• establishing guidelines or standards that will govern how condo corporations are to procure goods and services;
• establishing a process whereby condo corporations could add charges to an owner’s common expenses (condo fees), under certain circumstances;
• the manner in which [reserve funds] can be used; and,
• clarifying the processes for mediation or arbitration between corporations and owners.

Most of these issues have already been addressed in the Act, but the relevant sections have not yet come into force. For example, see the following sections not yet in force: new section 39.1 for procurement, new section 71.1 for the condo guide, and amendments to section 84 for adding charges to an owner’s common expenses.

In keeping with our leadership position in the industry, Crossbridge has been actively developing an enhanced procurement policy, vendor-approval process, procurement-related standard operating procedures (SOP) and updated specifications for core services.  Managers can currently access the following standard operating procedures and updated specifications governing procurement:

Stay tuned!