The Sale and Management of Condos in Newfoundland

— SHOW NOTES —

◘ Condos in Newfoundland, in Canada, and in general ◘

— Sources —

◘ Canadian Real Estate Association, Realtor.ca, https://www.realtor.ca/ ◘ 

◘ Louise Rachlis, “Botanica Might Be the Friendliest Address in Town,” The Ottawa Citizen, May 8, 2021, https://www.pressreader.com/canada/ottawa-citizen/20210508/281509344060544?srsltid=AfmBOorAzdqMNYpbPvQxz9Sc8CmGw3QZKGp5Hm6meoUPwFY1nSLFOYmH ◘ 

◘ Newfoundland and Labrador, Condominium Act, 2009, SNL2009 CHAPTER C-29.1, December 22, 2009, amended 2022, https://assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/c29-1.htm ◘

◘ Statistics Canada, “A Place to Call Home,” The Daily, November 21, 2022,  https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220921/g-b002-eng.htm ◘

Transcript

Condos are not as popular in Newfoundland as they are in almost everywhere else in Canada. In 2021, 15% of the dwellings occupied in the whole country were condos, whereas the percentage in St. John’s, the capital and biggest city in the province, was well below 5%.

You can get a rough idea of the current comparison between St. John’s and Canada’s most populous province, Ontario, by looking at the residences for sale on Realtor.ca, the national site where real estate agents who are members of the Canadian Real Estate Association post their for-sale listings. As of November 2, about 17% of the Ontario listings are condos, but only about 6% of those in Newfoundland are.

Setting the statistics aside for a moment and looking at my own experience of owning a condo in St. John’s and from talking to a few realtors, Newfoundland is not really a “condo province.” I mean that in two ways. Newfoundlanders generally prefer to buy houses, and often houses with some substantial land, and often houses with sheds. The idea of buying a 900-square-foot condo where you have to pay a monthly condo fee and you don’t even have a balcony or even a storage unit does not appeal. Secondly, the whole concept of a condo is one that many Newfoundlanders don’t embrace. Outside of the greater St. John’s area (St. John’s, Conception Bay South, Mount Pearl, and Paradise) and the city of Corner Brook, I don’t think there are any other communities that even have condos.

Though condos can be any type of personal residence, even a house, most of them here and anywhere are either apartments or townhouses. But of course they’re not apartments you rent, nor are they townhouses that realtors call “freehold.” They are this amalgam and hybrid. I like living in a condo because I don’t need or want a garden or a backyard, I don’t want to shovel a driveway or maintain a lawn, and I generally don’t want responsibility for the roof and the exterior of where I live.

Another important way in which condos differ from a regular house is that the condo building itself is established as a corporation that is run by a board composed generally of owners of a unit in the building. That board is elected at an AGM, an annual general meeting, open to all of the owners. The bylaws of the condo corporation stipulate the minimum and maximum number of members that can be on the board, and any owner who is interested is either nominated at the AGM or self-nominated. It often happens, in condos not only in Newfoundland but elsewhere as well, that condo board members who stand for election end up being acclaimed because most owners have no interest in being on the board. So, if five owners are nominated, and the bylaws say that that is the minimum to constitute a board, then those five owners are acclaimed or appointed. And then the general practice is that the board members have their own meeting of the five after that and decide who will be chair and also in some cases who will be responsible for one or more duties. Someone needs to manage the books, for example, so you need a treasurer.

Most condo corporations also contract with what is called a “property manager” (another company usually, that specializes in the management of properties or in real estate sales and services generally) to take care of the day-to-day running of the building. Ensuring that condo fees are paid, arranging with building contractors to do repairs, arranging the AGM’s and keeping a record of all the documentation, and a whole host of other responsibilities. Some condo corporations, but a small minority, choose not to have a property manager. I think the two typical reasons for doing this is to save the money that would have to be paid to any property manager for their services, or that they feel that they have enough experience on the board to be handle the duties that a property manager normally would.

The condo board and the property manager can have a major influence not only on how the building gets taken care of, but in how happy the owners are living in the building. Does the board keep owners up to date on activities regularly? Do they hold the AGM’s on time and make sure that owners have the agenda well ahead of time? Does the property manager do good work in maintaining the documentation, such as minutes of previous meetings? Does the property manager hire licensed, responsible contractors who do good work and, just as importantly, get the work done in a timely manner?

The other way in which some condos differ from an apartment building, say, is that many of the owners want to establish a social community in the building among all those who would like to participate. This can consist of a wide variety of activities. In the condo building I used to live in in Ottawa, which was scrupulously maintained by an admirably responsible board and property manager, the owners produced their own newsletter, held social events, held an event to welcome new owners to the building, had a lecture series, had a shared herbal garden, and many more things that all contributed to the place feeling very welcoming and engaged. The city’s big newspaper, the Ottawa Citizen, called it “the friendliest address in town.”

I’ve lived in both the good condos and the bad condos. Condo buildings are like the workplace in the sense that the management can have a major effect on how happy you feel there. If the condo board is lax about following the provincial legislation (in Newfoundland, it’s the Condominium Act, 2009) or the bylaws, then you’ll have a lot of disgruntled, and possibly even litigious, owners. And if the property manager does shoddy work, both a good board and many of the owners will notice that.

Condo life is definitely not for everyone. But if you find a building that’s well managed, where the rules and bylaws are followed, and especially where there’s a community and some activities that interest you, they can make the monthly condo fee well worth the price.