January 2025
Condominium corporations seek to encourage acceptable behaviour throughout their communities. This includes limiting in-suite activities that impact on common areas or other resident suites. Some behaviours they seek to control or restrict relate to noise, odour and pet issues.
Fines and chargebacks are two vehicles for encouraging acceptable behaviour and rules enforcement. Fines are a recognized and accepted way of helping to enforce acceptable behaviour in our society.
They deliver effective results that encourage individuals toward acceptable behaviour, and are used by institutions that include the police, libraries, utilities, government and the Canada Revenue Agency.
Fines
They deliver results by encouraging individuals toward acceptable behaviour
Used by institutions that include the police, libraries, utilities, government and the Canada Revenue Agency
Fines, fees paid for breaking certain rules, are a popular enforcement vehicle throughout communities in British Columbia. A Surrey, BC condo owner who fought against $800 in fines for smoking cigarettes and marijuana was required by the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal to pay these fines and more than $13,000 to cover the strata’s enforcement-related legal fees. Some Ontario condominium corporations have chosen to assess fines for infractions that include damage to common areas and failure to properly dispose of trash or recycling.
Unlike British Columbia, Ontario does not allow condominium corporations to assess fines against residents that fail to comply with community rules. Chargebacks, an alternative enforcement solution that can be less arbitrary, is allowed.
Chargebacks
Chargebacks are recovery of actual costs from a unit because of owner or occupant actions. They may relate to late payment fees, collection costs, legal fees, repair costs or other expenses paid by the condominium corporation and directly attributable to a condo owner or tenant. In all situations, chargebacks should relate to an actual paid invoice to a third-party.
With chargebacks there should be clear proof that amounts claimed are proper.
