Management

If a condominium is self-managed, the condominium board is responsible for managing all aspects of the property. This means the board looks after accounting, repairs, and maintenance tasks (for example,  landscaping and snow removal).

The benefit of a self-managed property is that the owners do not have to pay a professional property manager. That said, some tasks may be contracted out (for example, landscaping).

The downside is that self-management can be time consuming for board members. Without a dedicated condo board, the management of the property could suffer. This could negatively impact the quality of life in the complex as well as property values.

Many condominium corporations hire a condo manager or condo management company to look after the day-to-day affairs of the condominium corporation. The range of tasks will depend on what the condominium corporation and condo manager agreed to in the management agreement.

The condo board should review the management agreement and do its research on the condo manager. The same applies if you want to buy a condominium unit or if you’re living in a condo and want to hire a new condo manager. Consider the following questions:

• What tasks is the condo manager responsible for completing?
• How long has the condo manager been with the corporation?
• Do the condo board’s meeting minutes indicate that there have been issues with the condo manager?

If you want to learn more about what to look for in a condo management company, read Ask Maria: The Right Fit – Choosing the right condo management company.

 A condo corporation can end management agreements made by the developer (also known as a “developer’s management agreement”). For more information, see our Termination of Agreements page.

  Starting December 1, 2021, all brokerages, companies and individuals providing condo management services must be licensed. More information on what this means for condo boards and owners is available on the Real Estate Council of Alberta’s website.

If you are buying a new condominium, the developer may have hired a management company to look after the development until the condo board made up of the unit owners is in place. If there is a management agreement in place, developers must disclose it to potential buyers.

The owners’ condo corporation can end any management agreement entered into by the developer as long as:

• one year has passed from the date the agreement was entered into and
• the management company has 60-days written notice