The Condominium Property Amendment Act (CPAA) was passed by the Alberta Legislature in December 2014. Since then, there have been two amendments summarized as follows:
Regulations that took effect on January 1, 2018 have:
- Broadened the amount of information that developers must disclose to elected boards when the boards take over control of the corporation, such as technical documents and financial information.
- Expanded the number of agreements that can be terminated by the first elected board of a condo to better protect condo owners from being stuck with a poorly negotiated agreement. The new laws allow for the inclusion of almost any agreement that may be in place during development, including landscaping agreements and maintenance agreements.
- Formally recognized the ways in which an owner may call special meetings of the corporation. This empowers owners by allowing them to call for special general meetings.
- Provided the government additional inspection powers and the ability to issue fines to developers, if the rules are not being followed.
- Increased the penalty for offences, from $15,000 for an individual and $25,000 for a company to $25,000 and $100,000, respectively, or three times the amount gained by the offence, whichever is greater.
Regulations that took effect on April 1, 2018 have:
- Required developers to provide buyers an occupancy date so they know when their units will be ready, and concrete remedies, including the ability to end a contract, when the unit is not ready on time.
- Required developers to provide more information to condo buyers, including occupancy dates, materials to be used to finish the condo, and other fees that the developer will charge the purchaser.
- Increased protection for purchasers’ trust money by requiring it to be held by a lawyer instead of the developer and creating specific rules about how this money is handled.
- Provided means for condo corporations to recover costs directly from the developer when the developer has deliberately underestimated expenses for things like maintenance and management, during the marketing process.
- Established rules for notice and options for buyers when changes happen during construction that a buyer did not agree to.
- Established new rules requiring parking spots for visitors and people with disabilities are listed in condo plans.