Governance

January 30, 2024 Published by Newfoundland and Labrador Chapter - By David Cumming

Condominium Director Training Strategies – CCI-NL

From the CCI Newfoundland and Labrador Winter 2024 Condo Chronicle Newsletter

The overall assertion regarding Condominium Director education at CCI-NL is that:

• Facilitating the education of condominium directors is among the most important roles of the CCI-NL Chapter.
• All condo directors are encouraged to take advantage of condo education opportunities to enhance their ability to better serve their condominium community.
• Ideally, condominium director’s education should be available to all our CCI-NL members no matter where they live in the province.

In Ontario, under the Condominium Authority of Ontario (CAO):

• Condominium Directors have important responsibilities, duties and obligations. Directors must complete the training within six months of being elected, appointed, or re-elected unless they have completed the training within the preceding 7 years.
• The online training is available to anyone at any time and includes 21 easy-to-follow e-modules that cover important topics and can be taken at your own pace.
• The CAO also offers advanced optional training on the following six topics: Condominium governance, emergency planning & preparedness, finance, issues management, overseeing condominium managers and procurement.

Condominium Director training is not a legal requirement in Newfoundland & Labrador; however, the members of CCI-NL’s Board are well aware of the complex demands of managing a multi-million dollar property asset on behalf of the owners of a Condominium Corporation and strongly recommend that all elected Directors take our Director’s Course as soon as practical after their election to the Board to better serve their constituency.

CCI-NL Director’s Course Description:

The Condominium Directors Course is a course about the unique attributes of the highly regulated world of condominium property including outlining the governing authority, the corporate structure of condominiums and how condominiums are managed. The Course was designed by the CCI-NL Chapter specifically for the education of individuals elected to manage condominiums in our province.

The Director’s Course cost to CCI-NL members is $27.50; non-members is $47.50. Individual registration and payment by credit card only.

Course participants are encouraged to prepare themselves by reviewing the primary legislation related to condominiums – namely the Condominium Act, 2009 C-29.1 (assented December 22, 2009, came into force as of December 1, 2011), with subsequent amendments, available on the web at: https://assembly.nl.ca/Legislation/sr/statutes/c29-1.htm as well as the associated Condominium Regulations at: https://assembly.nl.ca/Legislation/sr/regulations/rc110080.htm

In addition to the Condominium Act, it is also of particular importance in the understanding of how condominium corporations are governed by reading and comprehending the following sections of the Act listed below in order of importance:

Declaration (Section 9) and (Section 10 - amending process). Is a fundamental document that establishes the existence of and further governs the use and maintenance of a condominium property.

Description (Section 11) and (Section 12 - amending process). Details the layout and location of the given condominium property. It includes a survey of the land and building(s) in addition to detailed architectural/structural drawings.

By-laws (Section 35) Is a self-governing document pertaining to the use, maintenance, management and administration of the property and assets of the Corporation.

Common Element Rules (Section 36) Provides for the usage of the Common Elements for the purpose of preventing unreasonable interference with the use of the Units and Common Elements.

Information on our Director’s Course is available on our CCI-NL web site: https://cci-newfoundland.ca/resources/cci-nl-directors-course. A brief outline of the Condominium Director’s Course is provided as follows:

Chapter 1: CONDOMINIUM CONCEPTS
Includes: an outline of the history of condominiums in NL, description of a condo & how a condo is created, basic elements of a condo and an explanation of Corporation concepts.

Chapter 2: GOVERNING AUTHORITY, STRUCTURE, ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Includes: an outline of the governing authority and corporate structure of a condo, description of the Board of Directors, standard of conduct and ethics facing Boards and Property Managers, the role of the Board.

Chapter 3: MANAGEMENT STYLES
Includes: a description of the policy and management roles of the Board, describes different management styles, how to assess management needs, how to choose and implement an appropriate management style and how to change the management style.

Chapter 4: MANAGEMENT ISSUES
Includes: an explanation of administration issues (schedules, records, document storing/filing), financial issues (accounting, financial statements, bank accounts), insurance and risk management, description of the duty to maintain and repair, the Reserve Fund Study and components of the physical property, creating a positive community atmosphere and dealing with professionals.

Chapter 5: MEETINGS
Includes: organizing effective meetings, conducting (using Robert’s Rules of Order) a Board Meeting – agenda and rules of order, differences between Extraordinary and Annual General Meetings, wording, amending and passing of motions, description of who can vote and how they vote at condo meetings as well as the role of the Property Manager at condo meetings.

Appendix A: Typical Standard Unit Definition
Appendix B: Example Estoppel Certificate
Appendix C: Typical Resident Information Package
Appendix D: Typical Property Management Contract
Appendix E: Example Fire Safety Plan

Over the last several years, the following three options for accessing the Condominium Director’s education from CCI-NL have been used to convey condo education:

1. Online Course
2. Virtual Course using the ZOOM platform
3. In Person Course

Online Director’s Course

The online course is designed as a self-paced reading assignment with comprehension questions at the end. The current *.PDF file format is deemed to be appropriate for this intent.

Advantages:

• The participant can take the self-paced course on their own time.
• Assuming the participant has access to an Internet connection and has a computer, they can take the course from anywhere in the province.

Disadvantages:

The course is not interactive although the participant can ask written questions via e-mail and will receive a reply normally within 24 hours.

Virtual Director’s Course

CCI-NL has provided the Director’s Course using the ZOOM virtual platform.
(ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoom_Video_Communications)

The Course is usually taught in two Chapter segments during a weekday evening with generally less than 10 participants for the same cost as the online Course.

Advantages:

• Assuming the participant has access to an Internet connection and a computer, they can take the course from anywhere in the province (in fact on one occasion one of our CCI-NL Members participated in the course while travelling in Australia with no technical complications other than the time difference). ZOOM works on iPads, iPhones, Android phones and tablets, Windows and Mac computers. Whichever device you use, you will need to install a small computer program, called an app, on your device in order to use ZOOM. A fast and stable internet connection is important for good-quality video calls on ZOOM.
• The course is fully interactive (interactive meaning that it is possible to communicate and react to the people you're involved with online during the Course – not only the instructor but other participants as well).

Disadvantages:

• People who want to take the course may not have access to an appropriate device, not have a high speed internet connection or not be familiar or comfortable using ZOOM.

In Person Director’s Course

Teaching the Director’s Course in person is by far the most resource intensive mechanism for conveying education since it would normally be taught in one all-day session on a weekend by more than one instructor in an appropriate venue capable of accommodating 40 – 50 participants. Although the CCI-NL objective is not to make a profit, the course cost will be higher than the online or virtual course as the cost of renting a suitable venue as well as catering costs for lunch and refreshments will have to be factored in.

Advantages:

• The course is fully interactive (interactive meaning that it is possible to communicate not only the instructor(s) but other participants as well).
• The participants will have the opportunity to meet and socialize with other course participants during the lunch break.

Disadvantages:

• The course costs will be higher than either the online and virtual course.
• The course location is normally restricted to the north-east Avalon where the majority of the CCI-NL Members condo corporations are located. Thus with escalating transportation costs, potential participants from beyond the north-east Avalon will have to pay more as well as possibly have to pay for at least one night’s accommodation during a weekend.
• To ensure that there is a high probability of good weather when the course is scheduled and a desire to avoid the summer vacation period, the time of the course would normally be restricted to either the Spring or Fall.

Course Participant Evaluation: The five chapters include four multiple choice questions at the end of each Chapter to be submitted to and marked by a Chapter Board member. Answering a minimum of 80% of the questions correctly is deemed a course pass and if achieved, the student will be sent a Certificate by the CCI-NL.

Course Comments & Ratings: Participants are encouraged to help CCI-NL meet our goal to continuously improve this course for the benefit of all those involved in the condominium industry here in NL. As such, upon completion of this Course, we encourage the participant to forward comments and suggestions to CCI-NL.

Other Educational Opportunities

The Chapter has an ongoing effort to expand the educational opportunities available to our members by providing Seminars on relevant topics of interest to the condominium community either virtually from CCI-NL, other CCI Chapters or in person.

Thus the CCI-NL Board is committed to making an effort to provide condo directors’ education to all our CCI-NL members wherever they live in the province to enhance their ability to manage and maintain their Condominium property on behalf of the owners of their corporations.

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By David Cumming, CCI-NL