Have you had a good look at your by-laws and rules lately?
Many condo corporations still have in place the by-laws and rules that the developer put in place when the condominium was registered. Developer by-laws and rules tend to be “one-size-fits-all” – but each condominium community is unique. The uniqueness of each community is a reflection of the make-up of the residents, the physical structure and amenities of the condo development and its location. Other corporations may have replaced the developer documents, but the replacement by-laws and rules passed years ago may now be outdated.
Developer documents and old by-laws and rules are often missing specific provisions that can be very useful when dealing with some problems such as overcrowding, payment of deductibles under the corporation’s insurance policy, harassment, hoarding, for example.
There are several reasons why a board may be reluctant to have these documents reviewed and up-dated:
- Inertia and/or resistance to change – Maintaining the status quo is easy and on the surface it appears that nothing needs to be done.
- Lack of understanding as to why an update is needed – Board members often are not aware of the deficiencies in their current documents.
- Fears that legal costs to up-date the documents will be exorbitant.
Knowing this, our group has developed a comprehensive document review and update package to offer to condo corporations on a flat fee basis. This package includes not only the review and update of by-laws and rules, but also includes the development of legally-required policies that a condo corporation should have in place which may be currently lacking.