Issues with status certificates

There comes a time when an owner gets tired of fighting with the board and he decides to move. When hearing this, most boards are thrilled and will do everything they can, short of helping him pack and loading his piano into the moving van.

Yet, a few boards, take a different tack. They may add negative comments in the status certificate to make a sale difficult or to lower the selling price. A last kick at the cat as it were.

Slander of title
Taken to extremes, a board may engage in slander of title.

The term slander of title refers to a person publishing something which is untrue and disparaging to another's property in land, chattels or intangible things which would lead a reasonable man to see that the value of the land would be diminished.

Since something has to be written, a more accurate term would be "disparagement of title"

Here is an example where an owner was very concerned about this issue because as he mentioned in an affidavit:

"I am advised by other residents, including a former President of MTCC 985, and do verily believe that MTCC 985 issued and/or threatened to issue Status Certificates with negative comments to prospective purchasers after comments to prospective purchasers after taking photographs of units without resident consent, with the effect of making it very difficult for affected unit owners to sell their units at fair value. Although I do not have personal knowledge of such instances, I know that there is a climate within the building and an unspoken awareness that an owner who makes issues for MTCC 985 does so at his economic risk".

Legal action
A slander of title suit can be pursued with merit in a variety of circumstances including but not limited to the filing of an invalid lien against real property or virtually any type of record which is untrue. Published can even refer to the placement of a lawn sign in front of someone's property upon which is conveyed an untrue disparaging statement.

Delaying the status certificate

An owner of a condo townhouse in Mississauga had a few run-ins with his board and so he decided to sell.

When he had an offer to buy, he paid his $100 and requested a status certificate. After twelve days went by, his wife phoned the management office to ask about the certificate. He was told that the corporation had ten business days to provide the certificate. This is not true.

The Condominium Act 2008 Section 76 (3) states:
"The corporation shall give the status certificate within 10 days after receiving a request for it and payment of the fee charged by the corporation for it."

When the owner sees a condo director, who Justice Myers in one judgment compared to Gladys Kravitz, she smiles at him.

He got the status certificate on the 14th day.

Colouring the status certificate
Not only was the certificate late, it contained voluminous materials about a lawsuit the corporation lost and that the unit had to pay a special assessment. A long list was included stating how much each of the over 200 units had to pay.

It did not state that the owner had paid off his share of this special assessment.

He lost the sale due to the delay and the "colouring" of his certificate so once he successfully sells his unit and is off title he will be seeking a legal opinion on how likely he would win damages in court.


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