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By-laws versus Condo Manual
Our condo is looking at creating a manual that provides helpful information living here. It would be more user-friendly than the by-laws, and the terminology less ‘legalese’. The question arises, though, can we have something in the manual that is not mandated in the by-laws. For instance, can we say that water dispensers are not allowed on refrigerators, when that is not covered in the by-laws.
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2 Replies
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That is super common! Many condo corps have an owner manual that also doubles as their list of rules.
You can definitely have rules in the owner manual that can be enforced, but there are restrictions on this in Alberta legislation. Probably the two biggest restrictions are that you can only enforce rules through non-monetary sanctions (you can’t fine people for violating a rule), and you cannot restrict what people do in their own unit through the rules.
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This is an excellent initiative.
After the 2019 Condominium Property Act Regulation updates, Service Alberta recommended that all policies in a condo be shared in a consolidated document with owners.
In my condo, I supported the board in preparing one document with the policies and guidelines for living at our condo. Such a document does have to be updated from time to time. Just a thought: with many tenants in buildings, maybe they need a copy too?
Concerning your direct question: You can have rules (name used in the legislation for policies) that are more constraining than the bylaws. The critical consideration: Rules/policies cannot contradict the Condominium Property Act, the CPA Regulation or your bylaws.
Thanks for a great question.
