Condo Bylaws and Airbnb rentals
A big decision for condominium boards coming out of Alberta in Condominium Corporation No 042 5177 v Kuzio, 2020 ABQB 152. This is a decision to make permanent an interim injunction that was granted in 2019. In short, the unit owners were using their unit for short term Airbnb stays, and the board argued that […]
If you have never lived in a condominium (and sometimes even if you have), you may not be aware that, with some small exceptions, a condominium corporation gets insurance for the building and unit improvements up to the standard unit description. However, there are still gaps in that insurance, and my advice is generally to […]
In Regina, rented water heaters are a pretty common occurrence. I would say I see them on about a third to a half of purchases that I close in the city on used residential property. There are a few key suppliers of leased water heaters and they will provide the heater and annual maintenance for […]
So you’ve qualified for the First Time Home Buyers Incentive – now what? While one could imagine your locally elected MP wanting to walk around handing out cheques for those who qualify, that is not how it works. This article is for those that have gone through the initial process and determined that they are […]
One of the things that people have the hardest thing getting their heads around in a real estate deal is property taxes. I’ve had a number of meetings, both before and after the transaction has been done, trying to explain the accounting associated with property taxes. To be fair, the math and payment terms can be […]
Stigmatized Properties – “Who You Gonna Call? ….The Ghost Lawyers!”
Stigmatized properties are those in which there is nothing objectively wrong with the physical premises. However, due to the history of the property, it has a negative experience associated with it. This could include properties in which murders or suicides occurred, or those which have been described as being haunted. The fluid nature of the […]
The Tax Court of Canada affirmed a tax assessment this summer of $92,000 on what appears to be an innocent purchaser of residential real estate property. The case of Kau v. The Queen, 2018 TCC 156 demonstrates one of the other tax liability that can affect purchasers when buying a home. Purchasers either need to […]
The legalization of cannabis has been the subject of intense debate, but the date of legalization has been set: October 17, 2018. This date creates some real urgency to have boards consider their bylaws, as I will discuss below. The Cannabis Act is a complex piece of legislation covering many aspects of legalization. For the […]
A family rents one of your rental properties. Decent interview, parents gainfully employed, and basically a model tenant. Then your house blows up. Such was the case in the decision of Carteri v Saskatchewan Mutual Insurance Company, 2018 SKQB 150 (CanLII). A property in Regina in 2009 was the scene of a fiery explosion. A […]
I have seen a number of board of directors from condominiums in this city and beyond that unnecessarily restrict their decision making power. The board will go back to their owners for any number of issues seeking authority to make decisions and with no apparent legal reason for such a practice. When pressed on why […]