Benefits of bylaws explicitly built for your property
  • If your bylaws have not been updated in some time, they are likely inadequate or may not address your specific and changing concerns. The Legislation changes over time, and so should your bylaws.
  • Good bylaws are like insurance; you don’t need them until you need them.
  • Some bylaws do not work for every property and are too general or not practical. Good bylaws tailored to your specific property will give you the ability to manage issues and problems quickly and effectively.
  • Bylaw enforcement depends on the language used in the bylaws, and your ability to efficiently manage your property relies on a sound and comprehensive set of bylaws.
  • A complete and current set of bylaws will help unit owners understand what responsibilities and powers the condominium board have and what duties and powers the unit owners have.
  • One legal challenge to an incomplete, poorly written, or dated set of bylaws can cost more than the cost to update your bylaws. Managing a property with poorly written bylaws can cost the corporation time and money.
  • Good bylaws help protect your property values and the use and enjoyment of your property.
Why you should use a Condominium Consultant and a Condominium
  • The consultant will minimize the cost of legal fees by acting as the project manager, organizing the process, reviewing draft documents, asking questions, providing step-by-step guidance and support from start to finish, and preparing a package for the lawyer to write the set of bylaws.
  • The consultant will recommend options for individual bylaws, suggest additional bylaws that may be missing in your current bylaws, help you build bylaws that Unit Owners can easily understand, and future-proof the bylaws where you can so you can avoid costly changes when the Condominium Property Act is updated.
  • The legislation for condominium property law changes regularly, so lawyers and consultants work constantly to keep up with these changes.
  • Having an experienced condominium lawyer working on your bylaws, along with an experienced condominium consultant, will give you a strong team to support building bylaws that will work best for your corporation.
  • Consultants do not write condominium corporation bylaws because they are not legally trained and it is highly recommended to have a lawyer do this, someone, who is experienced in condominium law so the bylaws will stand up to a legal challenge.
  • Bylaws written by lawyers are the intellectual property of the lawyers who write them, and they can not be used without their permission or compensation.
  • The language used in today’s current bylaws has changed from what was used years ago, and most bylaws written years ago would need to be updated with current language. Ongoing case law informs lawyers what language is working and what is not, and they continuously update the language in their bylaws to keep them current.
  • When bylaws are built today, all sections collaborate to cover all the requirements of a comprehensive set of bylaws. It would require reviewing and reorganizing all the bylaws in any set of old bylaws to ensure that all areas are covered. This can be costly if this is done for a complete set of older bylaws.
  • Lawyers build their own templates covering all areas required to update a set of bylaws. They would normally not update an old set of bylaws because the time and expense would far exceed the cost of just starting with their own vetted templates to create a modern and comprehensive set of new bylaws.
  • The costs of using a lawyer along with a consultant will pay for themselves the first time you need to go to court. One case that is required to be brought to court will cost more than the additional cost of using a lawyer to write your bylaws in the first place. The costs of not having an effective tool (your bylaws) to manage your property efficiently and with minimal effort cannot be understated.
  • Do yourself a favor, follow this advice, and you will not be sorry you did.