Author: Hannah Johnston, Summer Student Tarion Warranty Corporation (“Tarion”) was established in 1976 under the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act to administer the province’s home warranty program. Six months ago, Tarion’s structure and process were updated. The Home Construction Regulatory Authority (“HCRA”) launched on February 1, 2021. The HCRA is a separate regulator for new home builders and vendors, and Tarion will now focus solely on administering warranties and protections for the purchasers of new homes. Tarion transferred its authority over the registration and licencing of buil ..read more

Post by Annie Bailey Effective January 1, 2021, the Condominium Act, 1998 (the “Act”) will be amended to require condominium developers to provide potential purchasers of pre-construction and newly-built condominium units with a “Condominium Guide.” If you are a developer or a potential purchaser of a pre-construction or newly-built residential condominium unit, this new Condo Guide is very important for you. For others, including those who currently own a condominium unit, are purchasing a unit in an existing condominium, or work in the condominium industry, the Condo Guide is a valuable edu ..read more

In Toronto Standard Condominium Corporation No. 2051 v Georgian Clairlea Inc. (“Georgian”) the Ontario Court of Appeal affirmed the findings of the motion judge with respect to a declarant’s disclosure obligations as set out in the Condominium Act, 1998 (“Act”). Subsection 72(1) of the Act provides that “the declarant shall deliver to every person who purchases a unit or a proposed unit from the declarant a copy of the current disclosure statement made by the declarant for the corporation of which the unit or proposed unit forms part” (emphasis added). The obligation to provide the current dis ..read more

    The Takeaway The terms of a contract govern the relationship between the contracting parties.  If a party intends to strictly enforce a contractual right that party must have strictly complied with the prerequisite requirements to do so. The Case The type of agreement that gives rise to the dispute in Giuseppe Di Millo v 2099232 Ontario Inc, 20151407 Ontario Inc., and Inderjeet Dhugga is one that many land developers are familiar with. Giuseppe Di Millo (the “Developer”) entered into an agreement of purchase and sale with 2099232 Ontario Inc. (the “Builder”) for the construc ..read more

The Take Away Once a party waives an enforceable legal right its ability to then enforce such right is not immediate. The Case A recent decision of the Court of Appeal reaffirmed the manner in which a party may revoke its waiver. In North Elgin Center Inc. v McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Limited, the parties had entered into a commercial land lease agreement for a period of 20 years (the “Lease”).  The Lease was subject to renewal.  The parties agreed the Lessee, McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Limited, had provided its written notice to renew the Lease within the required period ..read more

Post by: Craig Robson When I was a junior lawyer, (back before computers) I worked in a firm with a senior counsel who was of an age to have fought in the first World War.  At the time, one of my co-juniors was a very capable young woman. One day, the senior counsel approached/tottered towards the two of us and interrupted our conversation to ask my associate to do some typing for him.  She reddened and pointed out she did not know how to type.  The counsel was shocked.  He may never have had that response before from a woman employee in his office.  He wandered a ..read more

Posted by: Roy Gentles Recently we have run into a number of issues surrounding the interpretation of the Safe Drinking Water Act, 2002 (the “Act”).  Namely, several municipalities have declared that the system of works that supplies water to the unit owners of the condominium plan is a “non-municipal year round drinking water system”, a “non-municipal drinking water system” or in laymen’s terms a private drinking water system under the Act. The interesting part from our perspective is that municipalities only appear to be raising this concern when the project is being developed ..read more

Enforcement of One Family Requirement in Condominium Declarations Post by: Carly Haynes We have noticed in recent court decisions the imposition of a restrictive definition of “one family” or “single family”[1] residence in condominium declarations where the term is not otherwise explicitly defined in the condominium declaration. It is our concern that the application of this definition may result in unintended discriminatory practices based on family status or lack of family status and may not be supported by an analysis of the relevant case law. The definition of “one family” residence ..read more

Post by: Carly Haynes There are two systems of land registration in Ontario, Land Titles and Land Registry. Historically, land in Ontario was registered only under the Land Registry System pursuant to the Registry Act. In this System all land registration documents are submitted to the Land Registrar and are recorded, in the order they are submitted, on the abstract for the geographic area they affect within a Land Registry Office (“LRO”).  Under this System, the documents are registered on title, but the provincial government does not guarantee the effect of such documents or title ..read more

Post by: Evan Holt Part 1 of this series discussed the new mandatory provisions for condominium declarations. Now, in Part 2 of this series, the discussion focuses on additional (optional) provisions that may be included in the declaration. Section 7 (4) of the Condominium Act describes additional contents that may be contained in condominium declarations. Although this is a rather open ended category, the revisions to the Condominium Act provide detail with respect to the type of provisions that a developer may wish to include. Section 7 (4) (a) of the Condominium Act currently states that a ..read more