Solve Pool Issue at Board Level

Written by Shlomo Sharon | 11 December 2004

The Toronto Star − Condo Living Section
Condo Living sent the following question to Shlomo Sharon, President, Taft Forward Property Management Group

Question

I am the owner of an adult lifestyle condo. We have both an indoor and outdoor pool. Children are allowed in the pool from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekends and holidays. Some neighbors claim that we are discriminating against children. Emotions are running high, please help.

Answer

Condominium corporations often have their rules established by the developer and once the owners have elected their own board members, one of the many responsibilities of the board is to make sure that the rules suit their community.

Your corporation may have kept the original rules or modified its rules by passing new rules at a board meeting and circulating the rules to the owners. If the owners never objected to the rules, then the rules come into effect.

The first step is to try to deal with management and the board to see whether you can attempt to discuss your concerns and to see whether the board is willing to revisit a revision to the rules.

If the board and management refuse to do so, the owners have the right to requisition a meeting to amend or repeal a rule and this must be done in accordance with the Condominium Act.

If an owner cannot obtain enough support to go this route and feels that the rule is discriminatory, this is an issue which involves the Human Rights Code and is a matter which could be addressed through the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

What would be best would be to try to resolve this issue by working with the board and make every attempt to work toward maintaining a harmonious community.