In the Condominium Tribunal’s 23rd case of 2023, Member Patricia McQuade rendered a decision on Toronto Standard Condominium Corporation No. 2694 v. Choi et al. which began just before Christmas 2022.
This case began in August 2022, when TSCC 2694 brought forward an application to the Tribunal to enforce their nose and odour nuisance rules.
The CAT Member noted that there were 37 incident reports for noise and odour nuisance rule violations in 2021. There were also instances of unruliness and physical altercations, and police were called on several occasions.
Despite this, and the indemnifications provided in the governing documents of TSCC 2694, the Cat awarded only $2,000 of the $6,263 in legal costs incurred by the Condominium Community in the course of enforcing their rules.
While the CAT Member noted: “the courts and this Tribunal have also articulated the principle that it can be unfair for other owners to be called upon to subsidize the costs of enforcing compliance against another owner”, the CAT has also said that Condominium Communities should budget for these expenses and they are simply a “cost of doing business”.
Time will tell if the Condominium Authority Tribunal will continue to implicitly hold Condominium Communities responsible for paying the bulk of the legal fees they incur in fighting against rule violations.
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