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Developer still Controls Board after 5 yrs
Is a developer obligated to sell all the units in a condominium? Is there a time limit on how long they can delay selling them? It seems like our condo has been de-converted without owners having any say, because the developer still owns 46% of the units and is just leasing them, with no units even listed for sale anymore. The developer has done this in several developments, so it is a planned pattern. They ensure that some of their employees and/or lawyers hold title to individual units, but when it is the president and CFO and leasing agent for the development corp, there is no arms length and since they control the vote with UF, the other owners have little chance of getting onto the board.
Is there any way to force the developer’s hand, to sell or limit their involvement on the board?
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4 Replies
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This is a difficult situation, to be sure.
When the Condominium Property Act was amended, the first portion of the Regulation that was implemented was the transition from developers to an independent board of owners because there had been a lot of isssues.
This fact sheet from the Government of Alberta provides guidance:
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I have read the information sheet that you refer to Terry and I have another question. Referring to page 12 “The Election of First Owners’s Board and Turnover of Documents”, it seems to be expected that Developers turn over certain documents to the owners’ Board of directors for the following reason: “to smooth the assumption of governance of the corporation by the owners”.
My question: The developer of our corporation holds a Restrictive Covenant on our condominium corporation and has done so for over 30 years. We have never had the opportunity to self govern because of this. The restrictive covenant is also registered on title. Can this be challenged? I know of no other condominium corporation that has had the developer hold such a document over the corporation in perpetuity.
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Thanks Terry, I don’t think the Act went far enough. For example, there is much stronger legislation in Florida that deals with our untenable situation. How do we go about lobbying Service Alberta to make another step change?
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