I was recently consulted on a case regarding a dispute with a condominium. Many of these consultations usually are issues of fact that are disputed, but I had one that revealed an interesting point of law.

Two clients attended my office regarding the condominium threatening to remove their cats. Both have lived in the building for many years and have never been asked to remove their cats. Now, the condo has decided to enforce that rule. If they had consulted a lawyer, they might have realized that a court will typically not allow a condo to enforce rules that it has knowingly disregarded for a long period of time.

The problem is that the situation is lose-lose for my clients. If they lose, they will need to have their cats removed and pay for legal costs. If they win, they'll be able to keep their cats, but still need to bear some of their own legal costs. If the condo is unable to properly fund the litigation from it's budget, it could result in a special assessment for all the unit owners.

In the end, it's probably a good idea for a condo to retain counsel before it starts to take any serious action.


Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

 

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