Many of us anticipated that we would soon hear about amendments to the Condominium Act to remove the requirements for Virtual Meeting and Electronic Voting By-laws and for obtaining owner consents to receive electronic notices. We were eagerly awaiting the announcement before the end of the May 31, 2021 deadline.
It now looks as if we have to continue to wait to see whether there will be more permanent changes to the legislation after December 31, 2021.
The Ministry has now announced the extension to the temporary suspension period to December 31, 2021.
So what does this mean for condominium corporations?
- Virtual Meeting and Electronic Voting By-law: For now until December 31, 2021, no by-law is required to hold an owners meeting virtually and no by-law is required to use electronic voting or telephone voting at owners meetings. We are still recommending proceeding with Virtual Meeting and Electronic Voting By-laws. Although we may soon see a more permanent change to the Condominium Act to remove the requirement for a by-law, it is still important to have a by-law that clearly sets out the basic framework for holding virtual meetings and conducting votes electronically.
- Agreement to Receive Electronic Notices: Condominium Corporations can continue to send notices to owners by email without obtaining agreements/consents from owners until December 31, 2021. Remember all you need is an owner’s email address and you do not need to send any hard copies of notices if you have the owner’s email.
We are hopeful that we will soon hear about more changes which will assist our clients in regulating owners meetings, the voting process and the use of proxies, many of which were expressed to the Ministry through submissions in February this year and are long overdue.
