Damage To Condominiums Property: A Condominium Corporation's Right Of Recovery Through The Condominium Property Act, 1993

In Saskatchewan, The Condominium Property Act, 1993 (the "Act") empowers condominium corporations ("Corporations") to recover from certain persons the cost of repairing damage to condominium property. This can be relevant to insurers in the subrogation context given the duty imposed by the Act on Corporations to maintain insurance on condominium units. A Corporation must insure condominium units against major perils and any perils specified in the Corporation's bylaws, and may insure the replacement value of units (including developed bare land units), common property, common facilities, and services units. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the principal ways the Act allows Corporations to recover from unit owners, tenants, and others for damage to condominium units, Corporation property, and common property.

As a starting point, section 98 of the Act provides a Corporation the general authority to recover against a unit owner for damage to his or her unit. It states that a Corporation can sue an owner in debt for any sum of money spent by the Corporation for repairs to the owner's unit.

In addition to the right of a Corporation to sue an owner in debt for damage to his or her unit, the Act also provides for recovery against an owner or others for damage to Corporation or common property. One mechanism through which it accomplishes this is found in sections 76 to 79.1(1) of the Act. In Goertz v The Owners Condominium Plan No. 98SA12401, 2018 SKCA 41, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal briefly commented on these sections, noting that sections 76 - 79.1 are part of a scheme that manages a Corporation's financial risk in relation to damage caused by a tenant. These sections provide for the recovery by a Corporation against an owner for the cost of damage to Corporation or common property in excess of any damage deposit taken. Firstly, section 76 of the Act makes it a condition of an owner's tenancy that the tenant not cause damage to Corporation or common property. Section 77 of the Act then provides that a Corporation can require a unit owner renting the unit to pay a deposit to be used for the repair and/or replacement of any of the Corporation's property or common property. If a tenant causes damage, section 79.1 of the Act kicks in to allow a Corporation to sue the owner for the amount of that damage over the damage deposit but up to the insurance deductible.

Further, the Act permits...