September 2018
A battle is brewing in Alberta between millennial families and older generations preferring quieter condo communities.
Alberta is the only province allowing condos to exclude residents under the age of 18. This may soon change.
Parents and grandparents, as they enter a later stage in life, prefer a quieter lifestyle. This is a right provided to Alberta condo owners for as long as condos have existed in the province. Many adults have made the choice to live in age-restricted or 55-plus buildings.
A recent human rights challenge ended with the Alberta Human Rights Act stipulating that age is considered a prohibited discrimination.
Age-restrictions are usually put in place by a developer. This restriction can be appealing to seniors selling their home and wanting to remain in the same area. Condo corporations can change their by-laws to remove this restriction with the support of 75% of owners.
Since 2012, Alberta’s population has been growing by about 100,000 people per year. Many are millennials who have, or will soon have families and oppose age-restrictions that limit where they can reside.
There is no information available about how many age-restricted buildings are in the province. Estimates put this at about 10% of all condo buildings.
Age restrictions are prohibited in condo buildings throughout Ontario.
