Gerry Hyman has another article for the Toronto Star. I want to discuss two of the questions raised:
QUESTION: Our board posts minutes of directors meetings on a publicly viewed bulletin board. At a recent meeting, the board discussed our garage roof that is leaking on top of parked cars. The posted minutes included my name and stated that I was the main complainant. Should not a complainant’s names be confidential?
ANSWER: The Condominium Act specifies that an owner is entitled to examine the corporation’s records, except for certain records including those relating to specific unit owners. Your complaint is a record of the condominium.
If the condominium cannot allow a requesting owner to examine a record relating to a particular owner, it is obvious that the corporation has no right to make available on a publicly viewed bulletin board information in regard to an owner forming part of a record.
What the Board should be doing at their meetings is to approve two sets of the Minutes of their meetings. One set is the official record of the meeting, which must be retained for legal purposes. The second set should be an identical copy, but with specific information blacked out for privacy reasons such as the names of owners who wrote into the Board. Although, from the sounds of what the questioner stated it sounds like the Board may unintentionally made the error and the owner should simply request that the posted Minutes be corrected to black out his/her name. Failing that, the owners should speak with a lawyer or the Condominium Authority of Ontario (CAO).
The other question I wish to discuss is the following:
QUESTION: What is the procedure for owners to get rid of a board member?
ANSWER: Owners of at least 15 per cent of the condominium units may requisition an owners meeting to hold a vote for the removal of one or more of the directors from the board. The requisition must state the name of each director who is proposed to be removed, the reasons for removal and whether the director occupies a position on the board reserved for voting by owners of owner-occupied units.
If more than one director is named in the requisition, there must be a separate vote for each named director. Removal requires a vote of more than 50 per cent of the unit owners in favour of removal.
A vote for a director who occupies a position which is reserved for voting by owners of owner-occupied units, may only be cast by the occupants of owner-occupied units.
I have spoken about this issue before and still shows why the recent changes to the Condominium Act do not go far enough. As I have stated before, owners should be able to remove directors by a 2/3 majority of votes cast at a meeting. This holds the directors accountable to the people they represent: the owners! I am not sure why the Government insists on refusing to protect the owners who spend large amounts of money to live in a condominium. It’s time that the directors be held accountable to the owners, and if that means making it easier for owners to replace directors than that is a good thing in my humble opinion.
Come on Ontario, let’s bring some real accountability to condominiums and put the owners in charge of their home.
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