Radio-Canada: Co-ownership shaken up by COVID-19

April 19, 2020 - Condolegal.com and Regroupement des gestionnaires et copropriétaires du Québec (RGCQ - Quebec Group of Managers and Co-owners) have received hundreds of questions over the past few weeks about the impact of COVID-19 on condominiums. They range from maintenance measures to traffic in the building, even police intervention. It is in this special context that the RGCQ's general secretary, lawyer emeritus Yves Joli-Coeur, gave an interview to Radio-Canada journalist Mathieu Dion.

Common areas and co-owners' assemblies incompatible with measures to curb the spread.

With the ban on all gatherings, boards of directors can no longer convene meetings of co-owners.  As recalled in the interview, Mr. Joli-Cœur indicates that condominiums face an impasse. It is during such meetings that the co-owners are consulted on the budget forecast. Without such consultation, boards of directors cannot fix the new contributions for common expenses by the co-owners, including special budgets for emergency work.

Mr. Joli-Cœur notes that we are going through an exceptional situation, one that nobody could have foreseen. The government is therefore being asked to modulate the legislative framework to allow assemblies to be held on a virtual basis, just as in France, so that condominiums can remain functional, he adds.

A dysfunctional condominium

According to Mr. Joli-Coeur, the problem is likely to stretch over many months, during which co-owners may still fear to participate in a meeting, because of the coronavirus. In large condominiums, worries Mr. Joli-Coeur, we may never obtain the quorum, since many people will simply refuse to show up.

State intervention

According to the article by journalist Mathieu Dion, the office of the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing says it is in discussions with its partners, in order to find solutions adapted to the current context.

To read the interview given by Yves Joli-Coeur, one can consult the following hyperlink: La vie en copropriété chamboulée par la COVID-19.

Montreal, April 19th, 2020