Posted on September 8, 2023
September 6, 2023
Ms. Robin Dafoe
Chief Executive Officer and Registrar
Condominium Authority Ontario
P.O. Box 69038, RPO St. Clair Centre,
Toronto, ON M4T 3A1
Dear Ms. Dafoe;
It has come to our attention that effective November 1st the CAO will require all condo corporations to
pay assessment fees using your online payment system and will no longer accept cheques for payment.
As experts in the Condominium management business over 45 years, we would like to share our
concerns with the proposed policy change on behalf of our membership.
Removal of payment via cheque is impractical given virtually all condos currently pay by this means and
the online payment methods being suggested (i.e. credit card, e-direct deposit, Google Pay, etc.) are
rarely used, fundamentally because they undermine accounting best practice and bank approval
protocols, and thereby put corporation funds at risk of fraud and theft. On the advice of many auditors,
condo payments require two authorized signatures: typically one signature from management and one
from a director of the board. The proposed payment methods will complicate this approval process
with additional steps.
If you want to encourage online payments, perhaps consider allowing pre-authorized bank payments, or
payments through popular accounts payable systems (e.g. SparcPay, Avidxchange) which condos already
use for their vendors but which leave authorization protocols in place. We are confident, however, that
the vast majority of condominium corporations will tell you that they would prefer to continue paying by
cheque - a legal, convenient, and secure payment method.
We encourage the CAO to further investigate and broaden its consultation on this issue to include
management firms, board of directors and auditors to ensure you offer a simple, convenient, and secure
payment process in line with banking protocols and the fiduciary responsibilities of the condominium
corporation.
Thank you considering our input.
Regards,
Paul MacDonald
Executive Director of ACMO
Eric Plant
President of ACMO