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#18767
COMPULSORY REGISTRATION for CONDO CORPORATIONS : deadline DECEMBER 31 2017 2017/10/14 20:51  
( For technical reasons this replaces a previous Item on same topic )

With a December 31 2017 deadline for corporate registration, the Ontario government has mailed out site-specific documents with an INVITATION CODE unique to each condo corporation.

Registration benefits include start paying & declaring your address for the benefits & burdens of Ontario`s new condominium oversight regime !

But the ``Invitation process`` is somewhat compromised by an undetermined degree of reliance on frequently long-outdated Registry office addresses for service including unchanged Declarant addresses or long-severed legal firm. Have some Boards - particularly self managed - ever bothered to legally update corporate address by registered Board Resolution ?

An Ottawa condo law specialist clarifies but notes that his own corporation`s Invitation apparently looks to have been merely tossed into the mail room or randomly slotted :

Sep 26/17 “Mandatory Registration of All Condos in Ontario” (with Dec 31/17 deadline) by lawyer Rod Escayola (Gowling WLG-Ottawa)
http://condoadviser.ca/2017/09/mandatory-registration-of-all-condos-in-ontario/condo-law-blog- Ontario

with link to CAO ‘s online registration portal https://www.condoauthorityontario.ca/en-US/register ( “An invitation code is used to register a Condominium Corporation. `` The CAO portal urges ``Please enter the invitation code you received.” ) Your corporation should be registered by your manager, a member of your condominium board, or another person who may act on behalf of the corporation (such as a lawyer or paralegal). . . . ``
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#18769
"WHAT IF WE REFUSE TO REGISTER our condo corporation ? " 2017/10/18 21:05  
"If we decline to register, will it be just like the good ole' days / bad ole' days under Ontario's Condominium Act 1998 ?"

1- What compels registration ?

Section 9 of the amended Condominium Act 1998 platforms the new CAO Condo authority to appoint a Registrar.

Section 9.2 then requires every Ontario condominium corporation to file with that CAO Registrar certain Returns :

Returns

9.2 (1) Every corporation shall file with the Registrar the following returns by delivering them to the Registrar in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed time and by paying the applicable fee:

1. An initial return.
2. A turn-over return.
3. An annual return.
4. Other returns as prescribed. 2015, c. 28, Sched. 1, s. 12.

Contents

(2) Each return shall set out the prescribed information as of the prescribed date. 2015, c. 28, Sched. 1, s. 12. . . .

BUT WHAT happens if a corporation simply ignores the whole process ? Just refuses to register ? How serious an offence ?

2 - "Remember how CAFCOR contributor Yvon Piche even coaxed a 2009 confession admitting that the Province had never laid any Provincial Offence charges under section 137 ?" ! ! See below : if assessed, "shall pay"

Has omitting to register & pay been omitted as a section 137 offence ?

At Oct 18/17 from (former Bill 106) Protecting Condominium Owners Act, 2015 :

121. Section 137 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Offences, general

137. (1) A corporation under this Act or any other Act and any other person or entity that contravenes or fails to comply with subsection 43 (1), (3), (4), (5), (7), 55 (1) or 72 (1), section 72.1 or 81, subsection 115 (1), (2), (3), (4) or (9), section 118, subsection 133 (1), section 143, subsection 147 (1), (3), 152 (1), (2) or 161 (2), section 169 or a regulation made under paragraph 4.1 of subsection 177 (1) is guilty of an offence.

Directors and officers
(2) An officer or director of a corporation within the meaning of this Act or any other Act who fails to take reasonable care to prevent the corporation from committing an offence mentioned in subsection (1), is guilty of an offence, whether or not the corporation has been prosecuted or convicted.

. . .
Penalties
(4) A person who is convicted of an offence under subsection (1), (2) or (3) is liable to,

(a) a fine of not more than $250,000, if the person is a corporation within the meaning of this Act or any other Act; or

(b) a fine of not more than $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years less a day, or both, if the person is an individual.

. . . . Compliance order
(6) The court hearing the proceeding may make an order requiring a person convicted of an offence to comply with the provisions of this Act that the person has contravened, if the court has competent jurisdiction to make the order.
Orders for compensation, restitution

(7) If a corporation under this Act or any other Act or any other person is convicted of an offence under subsection (1) or (2), the court making the conviction may, in addition to any other penalty, order the person convicted to pay compensation or make restitution.

- Ask your counsel: Doesn't Section 137 Provincial Offences seem to ignore omitting to register / pay ?

3 - So exactly how does the amended Act empower the CAO new Authority to enforce filings & collect annual payments ?

Wouldn't it be TECHNICALLY a Condo Act 1998 statutory offence to violate that Act's new section 1.29 below, albeit not section 137 Provincial Offence for bad dudes ? :

At Oct 18/17 from revised Condo Act 1998 so c 19

Powers and Duties of Condominium Authority

Forms and fees

1.29 . . . .

Remittance

(6) A corporation that is assessed under subsection (1) shall pay the assessment to the condominium authority in the manner and at the time that the authority specifies. 2015, c. 28, Sched. 1, s. 4.

4 - Failing to register, Ontario condo corporations are actually legislatively barred from "maintaining a proceeding" without prior judicial approval ; ONCAT and Ontario's civil justice systems

see Condominium Act 1998 S.O.1998 ch 19 https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/98c19

see the Act’s subsection 23.1 "Restriction on ability to sue"

5 - The bottom line : condo corporations best consult insured legal advice about trying to quietly opt out
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#18770
One condo lawyer discusses refusenik consequences ( deadline DECEMBER 31 2017 ) 2017/10/18 21:24  
Law Society of Ontario members cannot recommend lawbreaking. "Don't rob banks !"

Ottawa condo lawyer Cherryl Wood L.L.B., J.D. ( Davidson Houle Allen LLP ) addresses practical consequences of the interesting question just raised rhetorically by an CCI attendor. Ms Wood endorses CAO registration. :

"What happens if a condominium doesn’t register with the Condominium Authority of Ontario?”

Oct 18 2017 http://davidsoncondolaw.ca/what-happens-if-your-condominium-corporation-does-not-register-with-the- cao/


Is impairing subrogation ( insurer's right to pursue the insured's civil wrongdoer ) a consideration for claims other than between a condo corporation and its supplier, service provider or PMC or other arms-length damage-causer ?

Would such claims necessarily end up at CAO ?

Does conventional civil litigation trigger a CAO registration issue ?
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#18782
ToStar interview Nov 9/17 cites 2, 700 corporations registered ( deadline : Dec 31 2017 ) 2017/11/10 01:12  
2700 condo registrations registered so far out of 10,000

That's the number cited in the Toronto Star's Nov 9/17 published interview with Authority Czar Tom Wright. It's unclear if that number came from the Authority itself.

Mr Wright cites that so far TWO ( records access ) disputes have been registered in the first 7 days of the Tribunal division's operations. He is asked when the scope of disputes may be widened by the Province . . . .

Nov 9/17 ToStar “Condo disputes can now be resolved online . Ontario's new condo tribunal is accessible but will only mediate and adjudicate one kind of dispute to begin” by T Kalinowski

https://www.thestar.com/business/real_estate/2017/11/03/condo-disputes-can-now-be-resolved- online.html
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#18813
February 28/18 extension announced : COMPULSORY REGISTRATION 2017/12/25 23:48  
Claiming that 7000 Ontario condo corporations have registered, CAO announces extension of deadline to Feb 28/18. They say : gotta pay & bring an invitation . . .

https://www.condoauthorityontario.ca/en-US/registration/

Addendum : Dec 25-19 2017 CAO has placed general media ads addressed to "Condo Directors & property managers". They repeat the 7000 registrations claim.

It's unclear how widespread the ads have been placed, but include Metroland community info-weeklies / ( post-death pseudo-journalism for the general public ) . . .

* * *

Addendum : CondoBusiness Dec 21/17 (author unattributed) cites e-mailed speculation by Robin Dafoe, CAO executive director & registrar that late charges are being considered and that somehow there is an awareness gap. CAO has noted late response from smaller condo corporations in parts of northern & southern Ontario.

"Unregistered condo corps could face late charges as of March"
https://www.reminetwork.com/articles/unregistered-condo-corps-face-late-charges/

Let's see :

IF - IF we apply the same thinking as some do to voodoo indemnification clauses & charge backs without statutory platform. After the upcoming election :

Should we unilaterally/without lawful platform make up & demand new fees to recoup costs incurred to write followup letters allegedly signed by lawyers ?

Should we lien & action them unit by unit ? Should we Power of Sale them unit by unit ?

Should we even wind down the refusenik corporations ? . . .
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#18851
online REGISTRATION searches - CONDO CORPORATIONS 2018/04/10 12:16  
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