Another week has passed and the newly formed board of directors has not received all of the documents set out in Section 43 of the Condo Act so I guess we can see what kind of “teeth” the existing legislation has.
This collection of detached homes is a POTL (“Parcel of Tied Lands“) therefore it is under the Condo Act a “Common Element Condominium” and that requires a Not-For-Profit condo corporation and a resulting board of directors, which consists of volunteer board of directors, none of whom usually have any experience with condos, sitting on boards, or anything of the like.
So our POTL was handled (or should I say “manhandled“) in the same way that all condos are handled in Ontario.
You see, residential condo industry is totally unregulated!
Developers and builders can say and do anything to get consumers to buy from them despite knowing fully that they do not intend to deliver the “vision” that their trained salespeople paint.
The sales business in Ontario residential pre-construction condominiums is absolutely “corrupt“!
And if you’ve ever read through a pre-construction condo sales contract you quickly learn that they are the most ludicrous one-side “consumer-biased” contracts that you will ever enter into.
Any honest lawyer (you’ll look hard to find one of these but I do know a couple, like my lawyer Myles Waxman) would have to advise their client to not enter into such a one-sided agreement.
But the system is so well designed in Condoland that these contracts are common everyday elements of this bazaar industry.
What irks me is that there is so much propaganda distributed that reinforces a false socially conditioned confidence that there is in fact “protection for the consumer” when all the while, absolutely every fibre of the cloak that is Condoland is totally corrupt and ethically void.
It certainly leads one to ask “how did it get this way“?
The only answers out there will be found in my upcoming Ebook “Conflict In Condoland“.
So, then comes the next absolutely ludicrous stage of building the homes, another case of consumer extreme exploitation.
If you’ve been following my research into Window Wall technology you will already know that Condoland is facing a literal financial Tsunami that is the best kept secret in town!
Highly educated “Building Science” professors at top universities have been warning the industry and government for years about this looming threat yet they’ve proven to be screaming into deaf ears!
One day soon the seals on these Window Walls are going to start failing and like dominos this problem will spread like a virus!
If you are not aware, this technology comes with a 15 year life span!
The industry started using it pretty much exclusively in 2000.
Simple math tells you that many of the thousands of residential condo buildings (commercial buildings use a commercial grade of similar technology but both are dependent upon “quality installation“) built in the past 17 years are well into their “replacement threshold“.
When the seals go (glass has virtually zero thermal insulation factor) the interior is at the total mercy of exterior temperatures (heat in the summer and extreme cold in the winter).
I haven’t been able to find a single condo building in Condoland that has even budgeted for this replacement.
When I say replacement I’m really saying mass migration out of the units while the glass walls are removed and replaced. Who is going to pay for all these additional expenses is a logical follow-up question!
This is not an “if” scenario . . . . . it is a “‘when’ scenario” as the manufactures clearly show in their technical specs the lifeline of their products.
Why is no-one talking about this except me?
And I’ve been talking about it for far too long!
Ladies and gentlemen Condoland is in trouble and if you an owner or contemplating becoming an owner in these high density high rise glass towers, this trouble will indisputably spill over into your life.
I believe it will be like domino’s.
The Window Wall starts to fail so, condo boards seek advise and take the cheap route by having those glass walls sealed. But the sealant is visible and the building quickly starts to degrade visually so no-one can sell as no-one wants to buy. And lets not forget that sealing individual glass walls is only a temporary fix.
Who faces the expense?
The unit owners. I would doubt it as they own just from the inside walls and the condo board will probably end up facing the expense.
Insurance companies should be re-reading their contracts as they will undoubtedly be hit.
And then the rest of the Window Walls in the building start to go and as they are all of the same age, the logical conclusion shows itself that the entire building has to be re-done.
But remember I said that I haven’t been able to find a condo board or property management firm (a whole bunch of blogs coming up about this added feature in the consumer shake down game) “budgeting” for this eventuality!
Ouch!
So the condo corporation does not have a reserve fund for this and it hits. Who is ultimately responsible for the condo corporation? You got it, the owners of the units who are after all shareholders in the condo corporation. It always come back to the consumer!
So the new game of “whack-a-mole” is “who goes bankrupt first, the consumer, the condo corporation, who“?
What do insurance companies do when everyone first pounces on them?
What do the mortgage companies and banks do when owners start walking away from their mortgages (I saw this in 1989 when Condoland “crashed“)?
What does CMHC (tax payers!!!) do with all the defaults on mortgages that it guarantees?
We are talking about a potentially devastating impact on the economic health of our Province!
Yet politicians have been fascinating on legislation to introduce any legitimate protection for consumer in the decades that I’ve been talking with government officials.
The roll out of the upcoming changes in the Condo Act are nothing short of comical!
And recently I’ve shown you just how this consumer exploitation continues even after the condo registers and is allegedly “legally handed over” the owners.
This has just proven (search “Oakville” on simplycharles.com) the absolute MOST EXPLOITIVE phase of the entire distasteful process referred to as “pre-construction condominium home ownership“.
We’ve seen some positive overtures from the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, Ms. Tracy MacCharles (now there’s a coincidence! How could I not be a fan?) .
I’ve just sent her a letter offering my services and unique qualifications after almost four decades of hands-on experience in Condoland starting as part of the problem, introducing buyer agency and then then lobbying to introduce legitimate consumer protection into Condoland (which has just proven to be a whole lot more than high rise glass towers as the fight I’ve been having is over detached houses).
An industry that is so totally unregulated, and which is known as the main income stream for the Underground Economy in this Province is simply a recipe for consumer exploitation.
This really is all fixable but I am absolutely convinced that it will take me to do it (I don’t know anyone else with my qualification or who has lived the life I have in Condoland).
I was talking with a lawyer the other day and mentioned the reassuring article (first of its kind in 15 years of my doing this) and experienced the usual “blow off about any potential for meaningful change“.
Apparently the government seems to be perceived as “not wanting to change this” and I can understand the perception but my hunger for some aspect of integrity in our “system” leads me to remain optimistic.
If you are interested to learn how all this works out simply stay tuned.
I’m Charles
