Condominium Status Certificate

Do you think it should be the real estate sales professional’s responsibility to request a Condo Status Certificate or the solicitor’s. We all know that you must have one if you are closing a deal that involves a condo – but do you think it is better to get it ahead of time or just let the lawyer request it?

Traditionally, the process of requesting a Condo Status Certificate required tracking down the appropriate person at the condo corporation, making your request in writing (usually by fax) and then having to mail payment by certified means before they will even get started on the request. Next you can wait up to 10 days before the Condo Status Certificate is ready and arrange a courier to pick up the massive document.
Seems like a complicated, time consuming way to go about getting something, especially given the fact that it is 2013 and technology makes virtually every other aspect of our life effortless.
GeoWarehouse has made the process of requesting Condo Status Certificates a little bit easier. While many are not fully available for online viewing, they can be requested online through the GeoWarehouse Store.
What does this mean to you? It means that you can simply access the GeoWarehouse Store, request a Condo Status Certificate online, pay by credit card and then either receive it electronically or, if it is not available electronically, arrange to have it picked up. http://www.geowarehouseblog.ca/condo-status-certificate-online-say-it-aint-so/

I love the concept of ordering the Status Certificate online and waiting for the E Mailed link to everything. ByLaws, Financial Statements, Insurance Certificate, Rules and Regulations, Declarations and the updated Status Certificate.  Easy to read, adjust the font and just download the appropriate PDF'd section.  A condo management's contact details are obtained when you negotiate the offer with the owner of the unit. 

Received online.
Lawyers are angry because they need to print it for their clients
Clients are unhappy because the lawyer charged them for printing it.

In my experience the conversation goes something like this;
Lawyer: If I print it...   I need to charge you....  Thats a dollar a page. 
Buyer:  HUMMM   Pause ...  Nahh...   Its ok.  What's in it?
Lawyer: Rules about what you can and can't do,  what you legally own and what the state of the condominium building is in.

You are already angry at what the lawyer charges for a closing; cost is everything.

RESULT?  No one reads the Declarations or By Laws re; pets, commercial vehicles, using your condo as your International business headquarters or hundreds of other details like you're getting the right locker and storage unit and any proposed Maintenance Fee increases or scheduled Capital Repairs in future years

Danger?  None. We are all reliant upon the Title Insurance should something run aground.

Personally?   I request, pay and pick up the Status Certificate, read the By Laws and check the legal descriptions... because, I have been on the Board of Directors of a number of Corporations; and have an accounting back ground I understand the Financial Statements. Your lawyer is the best source to re read the Declarations and By Laws during the Conditional Period in your Agreement of Purchase and Sale. Stan Gelman has spoken of the need to review the entire bundle of documents.

Audrey Loeb of Miller Thompson released a really good whitepaper titled “Condominium Ownership – What You Need to Know” http://www.millerthomson.com/assets/files/article_attachments3/MT_A-Residents-Guide-Living-and-Buying-a-Condominium_A-Loeb.pdf

While it is possible to get Special Assessment Insurance with your Home Owners Policy it is better to subject them to additional scrutiny.

I would like an original signature under seal from the condo corporation that the facts at that particular moment in time are true, rather than a faxed or emailed Status.

Wouldn't you?