COVID-19

March 11, 2020 Published by CCI National - By Joel Berkovitz and Patrick Greco

The Coronavirus’s Impact on Condominium Living

A brief overview of how the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted condominium living.

The Coronavirus's Impact on Condominium Living

By Joel Berkovitz and Patrick Greco

If you have an upcoming meeting of owners, encourage owners to submit proxies, rather than attend the meeting in person (though of course they are welcome to attend if they wish), and ask anyone who is feeling unwell not to attend. Owners who wish to raise issues at the meeting can be invited to submit their questions in advance. Their questions will be answered at the meeting and management can relay the answer to them afterwards. You may also wish to consider the use of an electronic proxy or electronic voting service to make it easier for owners to submit their choices in advance of the meeting.

• Be sensitive to residents who have concerns about members of the corporations’ staff and/or contractors entering their units. Reasonable precautions should be taken by the corporation. A staff member who is sick or feeling unwell should be encouraged to stay home from work (and certainly not enter anyone’s unit). If a resident is particularly concerned, staff and contractors can wear gloves and an appropriate mask while in the unit. Similarly, if a worker is concerned about entering a unit because a resident is unwell, similar steps should be taken, or if the entry is not for an emergency, it can be delayed.
• Encourage all residents and staff members to comply with public health recommendations. Most importantly, this means if you feel unwell, stay home from work, and if you are in contact with anyone who may have the coronavirus, you should self-quarantine in accordance with public health recommendations. If a resident is in quarantine, management should be informed (via phone or email) so that the corporation’s staff know not to enter their unit.

• While the above measures should be helpful, please note that the situation is extremely fluid and is changing daily; additional measures could soon be required. Boards and Property Managers should monitor and follow the advice of Health Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Health and local municipal public health departments prior to taking any major steps. By doing so, you can help make sure that reasonable protective steps are taken while still permitting condominium sites to remain functional for those who live and work there.

  Information regarding the status of the coronavirus in Canada is available here. The Government of Ontario has a page with information on the coronavirus in Ontario here, and Toronto Public Health has information here.