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safer, fairer, and more transparent, while balancing the responsibilities of develop- ers and the rights of consumers. "It's a very positive step forward. The old act was completely outdated," says Steven Christie, a partner in the Fredericton office of McInnes Cooper. A key component of this new act is a requirement that developments with more than 10 units complete a reserve fund study to determine the budget for current and future maintenance and repairs. Christie says his developer cli- ents are concerned about the short-term impact of this because those who took out a building permit before the end of last year are not required to do a study and provide for a reserve fund, while newer developments must comply with the act. The act does require existing condo corporations to do a reserve fund study within three years. "So at some point it will catch up and I think the purchasers will understand that buying into a condominium corporation that has a vibrant reserve fund is probably a good thing," says Christie. Generally, Christie says, the new act is more consumer protection-oriented than the old legislation. It involves more governmental oversight and places more filing obligations on condo corpora- tions, while imposing substantial fees on developers. For lawyers, the act brings some benefits by standardizing docu- ments. It will also make life somewhat easier for condo boards because it gives more guidance on governance. Consumer protection is also a pri- ority in Nova Scotia's Condominium Act amendments, according to Patrick Cassidy of Cassidy Nearing Berryman in Halifax, a member of the legislative review committee that advised the prov- ince on the amendments. He says a key innovation is a requirement that devel- opers put a sum of money in trust, the equivalent of 10 per cent of the build- ing's annual operating budget, which the condo corporation can claim against within 15 months if expenses exceed the budget by more than 10 per cent. As anyone dealing with condominium law can attest, condo living is not without its conflicts, many of which end up in litigation often over issues such as pets, ntitled-3 1 outdoor ornaments, satellite dishes; con- cerns that are important to individual owners but not necessarily matters that merit the scrutiny of the courts. Nova Scotia is currently developing a novel approach to this by expanding the juris- diction of residential tenancy officers, who are normally responsible for hearing landlord-tenant disputes, so they will hear condo disputes and make legally binding decisions allowing condominium boards to avoid the expense of hiring lawyers to represent them in court. As the condo boom continues, how- ever, and with plenty of new legislation to deal with, there's not likely to be any shortage of work for lawyers working in this expanding field. Freelance journalist and business writer Kevin Marron can be reached at kevin@ kevinmarron.com Practice Management LexisNexis® Time Matters ® Case management software that is FLEXIBLE Time Matters® practice management software offers powerful customization and automation features that effectively manage the elements of your workday — calendars, email, cases, clients, contacts, deadlines, communications, research, documents and more. Thousands of legal and business professionals trust award-winning Time Matters software to help them manage day-to-day information and activities. Discover how Time Matters can help your fi rm reach greater levels of productivity and profi tability. For more information, call 1-800-328-2898 or visit www.lexisnexis.ca/timematters. Download and Try Time Matters for FREE* * Download Time Matters free for 30 days. Certain conditions apply. LexisNexis and the Knowledge Burst logo are registered trademarks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used under licence. Time Matters is a registered trademark of LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. © 2010 LexisNexis Canada Inc. All rights reserved. www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com M ARCH 2010 25 2/16/10 3:36:20 PM