Canadian Lawyer

April 2020

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www.canadianlawyermag.com 41 STRENGTH IN EXPERIENCE © 2020 Stewart. All rights reserved. See policies for full terms and conditions. $1,732,000,000 MULTIPLE APARTMENT BUILDINGS Recently Closed. Covered by Stewart. Our title insurance experts help you close real estate deals efficiently and confidently. To learn more, call (888) 667-5151 or visit stewart.ca. Deo had docketed. As the legal fees mounted, the condo board was "oppressive" rather than "neighbourly," Koehnen noted. "Instead of meeting with Mr. Amlani to dis- cuss solutions, [the condo corporation] got its lawyers involved and demanded that Mr. Am- lani stop smoking immediately and warned him of enforcement costs," Koehnen wrote. "Its position became intractable. For what- ever reason, it appears to have become rigid and motivated by an animus towards Mr. Am- lani that blinded the Corporation to simple, practical solutions." Koehnen highlighted several actions from the condo board that were not in good faith. For one, when Amlani requested mediation in November 2017, "the corporation appointed a mediator and set the mediation date, both without consulting Mr. Amlani." While Almani complied, "[p]art way through the mediation, counsel and the representative board member Amlanis had been given confirmation that smoking was allowed in the building, neigh- bouring unit owners complained in 2015 that the smoke smell was spreading. At that point, the condo corporation ab- sorbed the cost of a contractor to "seal certain openings in the applicants' unit to prevent the smell from escaping." Nonetheless, more com- plaints surfaced in 2017. Amlani then decided to only smoke in a sealed sunroom with an air filter. But later that year, Amlani received a letter from the condo board asking him to immediately stop smoking in the unit. At this point, the condo board began charging Amlani for the cost of "enforcing his compliance." Amlani and his lawyers proposed sever- al potential solutions: mediation, hiring an engineering firm out of pocket to assess the problem or a meeting with the condo board and the residents of the 28th floor to "sincere- ly attempt to resolve the matter at hand." By fall of that year, Amlani moved out of the unit and rented it to a tenant with a no-smoking clause (despite the complex having no rule against smoking). At that point, the Amlanis were invoiced for $863.99 in legal fees, plus $1,500 that Fine & CONDO ACT WAITING GAME DEC. 3, 2015 NOV. 1, 2017 DEC. 19, 2019 FEB. 10, 2020 MARCH 10, 2020 Ontario's "Protecting Condominium Owners Act" gets consent Major swaths of the Protecting Condominium Owners Act finally turn on Province announces Condo Act changes under Rebuilding Consumer Confidence Act that would clear up processes for mediation or arbitration between corporations and owners and create rules for adding charges to owners' common expenses Consultation begins on proposed condo changes Consultation ends

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