Welcome to Condo’s Corner!

Brought to you by Daulton Read, President of Read Property Management

Get ready for a weekly dive into condo living like never before with Condo’s Corner! Speaking from my perspective as a Condominium Manager, my goal is to entertain and provide valuable management insights and stories that can help you live your condo life a bit better—all with a little bit of wit, charm, and practicality.

So you’ve decided to rent out your condo unit. Great idea — passive income, building equity, the whole thing. But before you post that listing and hand over the keys, there’s something you need to understand that a lot of landlords find out the hard way: in a condominium, your tenant is your responsibility. Full stop.

It’s right there in your declaration — the founding document of your corporation. As a unit owner, you are on the hook for the actions, behaviour, and yes, the mistakes of whoever lives in your unit. That means when your tenant does something that costs the corporation money, guess who gets the invoice? Not the tenant. You.

The Risks Go Beyond the Usual

Most landlords already know the standard risks of a bad tenant: unpaid rent, damage to the unit, the joy of navigating the Landlord and Tenant Board. Those are real, and they sting. But renting in a condominium adds a whole other layer of exposure that too many owners don’t think about until they’re staring at a chargeback notice.

Here are three ways a bad tenant can hit your wallet through the corporation:

• Rule enforcement costs. Under the Condominium Act, 1998, corporations can charge back the legal and administrative costs of enforcing their rules against a unit owner. If your tenant is causing repeated noise complaints and the corporation has to send warning letters, hire legal counsel, or proceed to the CAT, those costs can land on you.

• Common element damage. If your tenant damages a hallway wall while moving furniture, scuffs up the elevator, or breaks something in a shared amenity space, the corporation will repair it — and send you the bill.

• Amenity abuse and misuse. If your tenant is found misusing a shared space — throwing a party in the rooftop lounge that wasn’t booked, leaving a mess in the gym, or violating guest policies in the pool area — the cleanup, enforcement, and any resulting costs are yours to absorb.

Two Stories We’ve Lived Through

Let me share a couple of real examples that hit close to home.

The first involved a tenant’s young child who, while playing in a common hallway, pulled a fire alarm station — and broke it. False alarm, full building evacuation, fire department response, inspection, and repair. By the time it was all settled, the bill for that moment of childhood curiosity had been charged back entirely to the unit owner. Not a fun conversation.

The second is one we see more often than you’d think. A tenant moved into a building with an explicit no-pet policy written into the declaration — not just the lease, the declaration — and arrived on move-in day with a dog. The corporation enforced the restriction, and the landlord was stuck in the middle. Here’s the part that trips people up: while Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act generally voids “no pet” clauses in residential leases, a condominium corporation’s declaration operates under a different legal framework. A pet restriction in a condo declaration is enforceable, and the unit owner is obligated to ensure compliance.

What a Great Condo Landlord Actually Looks Like

The best condo landlords I’ve worked with share a few things in common:

• They read their documents. Declaration, by-laws, rules — all of it. You can’t screen for compliance with rules you don’t know exist.

• They screen thoroughly. References, credit checks, employment verification. Not just “they seemed nice.”

• They disclose the rules up front. Great landlords provide tenants with a copy of the condo rules before signing. Some even include a signed acknowledgement.

• They stay involved — lightly. You don’t need to micromanage your tenant, but you should be reachable and responsive when the corporation contacts you.

• They understand the LTB and the CAT exist. Two different bodies, two different problems. Know the difference before you need it.

• They treat this like a business. Because it is one.

Renting out your condo unit can be a genuinely rewarding investment — but only if you go in with your eyes open and your documents read.

Because in a condo, your tenant’s problem is your problem. Every time.

Got a condo tale to tell or burning questions about condo living? Don’t be shy—share ’em with me! Whether it’s a funny story, a management mystery, a celebratory story, or just a nightmare, we’re all ears. All you need to do is reply to this email so we can keep the content coming.

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