REAL ESTATE
It's tough to kick someone out of their castle
While the numbers of cases are increasing, it's still an uphill battle W
for a condo corporation to force an owner to sell. BY KEVIN MARRON
hat do you have to do to get yourself
if you are caught on a video surveil- lance camera pulling a neighbour's hair, breaking her glasses, and punching her in the face? And what if you are also accused of assaulting two other neighbours — including an 80-year-old woman — and you leave a voicemail message saying, "you fucking bitch, I'll get you" for one of the witnesses? All of that is not serious enough to
out of a condo- minium? What
thrown
impose the ultimate sanction of forcing Edna Merle Hayes to sell her unit in a Toronto condominium development, according to Ontario Superior Court Justice Michael Penny. Furthermore, in an August 2012 ruling in the case of York Condominium Corp. No. 137 v. Hayes, the judge declined to order Hayes be removed from the condominium corpo- ration board, stating this should be dealt with through the democratic process set out in Ontario's Condominium Act. Penny did, however, give Hayes stern
warning, telling her to "to refrain from assaulting, verbally abusing, swearing
at, harassing, threatening, or intimidat- ing" other board members, residents, staff members, contractors, or others doing business with the condominium, or anyone who has sworn an affidavit or provided evidence against her. "But if you need to tell someone
not to do that, what do you expect to come out of it? It's like asking the scor- pion not to sting the frog,
Rodrigue Escayola, an Ottawa-based partner with Heenan Blaikie LLP, who frequently acts for condominium cor- porations. "I'm hoping that the judge was right in giving the person a chance
" says litigator
www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com N O VEMBER / D ECEMBER 2012 21
dushAn milic
