CONDO ARCHIVES

Neglecting your Building Infrastructure

November 2024

Fifty Years is NOT old for a building.

Fifty years is a short time in the life for a building despite what the Ontario government claims.  If this were true, many of our most successful condominium communities, and nearly all of Toronto Housing Corporation buildings, would have to be torn down.

Our high-rise condominium buildings do not have a 50-year shelf life!  In fact, there is no good reason for any building to fall into disrepair.

The Royal Ontario Museum’s original Bloor Street building is 112 years old.  Part of the Art Gallery of Ontario is in a building that is 207 years old.  Queen’s Park has been open for 131 years.

Much like government, some communities have developed the habit of allowing their valuable properties to fall apart due to neglect.  They have gotten into the habit of managing decline rather than maintaining their home.  This is not unlike declines in our public infrastructure which includes hospitals, schools and transit.  Some condo boards choose to save money in the short term by not taking care of their home over the long term.

Neglecting proper maintenance in high-rise residential buildings, much like what has happened to Ontario Place and the Ontario Science Centre, is a choice leading to premature deterioration.  Residential communities where people live don’t have the option to tear down and rebuild.  If people are to continue living in their home, communities must repair areas damaged by neglect at much greater cost than if they simply decided to maintain them.  This leads to higher condo fees or, when the need is urgent, special assessments.

Renovations and updating is inevitable for any building.  Allowing them to decay is an embarrassment of choice.

An Ernst & Young report stated the Ontario Science Centre was “in operational crisis due to a failing structure with mounting critical maintenance costs.”  Repair costs never disappear.  If ignored, they continue to escalate to a point that they become unaffordable.  While the Ontario Science Centre has now been closed, high-rise condominium buildings do not have this option.  We’ve read about communities dealing with unimaginable repair costs, and the Sunrise Florida building that collapsed from neglect when owners failed to undertake repairs.

Pursuing a policy of neglect is costly and dangerous.  Better to reverse the decay by repairing buildings and spaces so they maintain their usefulness.

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