What is the Condominium Authority Tribunal?
The CAT is Ontario’s first fully online tribunal and is operated by the CAO. It provides quick and cost-effective dispute resolution services for condo-living issues within its jurisdiction through a three stage dispute resolution process of Negotiation, Mediation and Adjudication. Condo owners and corporations can choose to represent themselves at our Tribunal to save on legal costs. The CAT mediates and adjudicates its decisions through a team of Members appointed by the CAT Chair, who is in turn appointed by the CAO’s Board of Directors.
What is the Condominium Authority Tribunal’s jurisdiction?
The CAT has jurisdiction to resolve issues relating to condo records, nuisances, governing documents and compliance with settlements from previous CAT cases. Here’s some common scenarios for each:
Condo records
- You requested records and your corporation did not respond
- You believe you are entitled to a record that your corporation has refused you
- You disagree with how much you’re being charged to gain access to a record
- You believe your condo is keeping inadequate records
- You believe your condo is not keeping certain records, or is not keeping them long enough
Noise, vibration, smoke, vapour, light, odour :
- Another resident is causing one of the above nuisances
- The condo corporation is causing one of the above nuisances
- The corporation is not adequately addressing one of these nuisances
How your condo’s governing documents deal with pets, vehicles, parking, storage or other nuisances, such as harassment:
- Another resident is not complying with the governing documents
- The condo is not enforcing the documents
- The documents are unreasonable
- The documents are inconsistent with each other or the Condo Act
- Your condo didn’t make, amend or repeal the governing documents properly
Compliance with previous Tribunal settlement agreements
The CAT cannot deal with any issue that is likely to cause injury, illness or damage to the condo corporation’s property.
Can the Condominium Authority Tribunal deal with cases about chargebacks?
It depends. We can resolve disputes related to chargebacks about issues already within our jurisdiction, but not anything additional.
For example, the CAT does not have jurisdiction over repair and maintenance issues, so any chargeback dispute relating to owners failing to repair their unit or common elements cannot be dealt with at the Tribunal.
The CAT has jurisdiction over how parking is governed, so issues related to charges about parking enforcement, damages or compensation in the condo can be resolved at the Tribunal. A real-life example of this would be a condo owner being charged back costs by a condo corporation for having to tow their vehicle and writing them a legal letter asking them not to park at a specific spot. The owner could dispute these charges at the CAT either for being unreasonable or unwarranted.