Condominium Manager Magazine

On April 19th following the Annual Meeting of Members, ACMO celebrated its 40th Anniversary. Over 400 members and guests attended the champagne reception followed by lunch. Kudos and thanks go to ACMO staff, the Organizing Committee, Toronto Congress Centre and Freeman Audio Visual for creating an outstanding event with themed décor throughout.

In my last report, I commented on how fast winter went by and now I am thinking, “what happened to spring?” Here at ACMO, spring was so very busy we hardly noticed the rainy weather.

The condominium industry is moving at a fast pace. Here are some newsworthy items that ACMO is watching and will report on from time to time to keep members and CM readers up to speed.

The Unfortunate Reality: Some Condominium Owners Taking Advantage of the Rights Afforded Under AODA and the Ontario Human Rights Code – a reply to a letter in spring CM magazine.

The on-call manager receives a telephone call on the emergency line at 9:30 Saturday night. He is deeply engrossed in an action movie and is reluctant to hit the “pause” button. After a couple of rings, he answers and hears a frantic senior on the other end of the line reporting water coming from the unit above through her light fixture over the kitchen sink. The manager yawns audibly and replies that this is nothing to worry about and quite common in a stacked townhouse. 

Report as of May 31, 2017

Top performing companies strive to deliver consistent and efficient services through systems, infrastructure, policies, and on the front line by hiring and training the right people with the personality and attitude suited to positive interaction with customers on a daily basis.

I’ve been in the property management industry for the better part of two decades. When I started my career in the summer of 1989, property management was much easier, the pressure was lower and the expectations were reasonable. Over the years, I have seen the industry grow, change and evolve in many different ways and subsequently, so have the roles and responsibilities of a property manager. 

Condominium managers are responsible for people’s greatest investment – their homes. Because the stakes are high, sometimes condo owners can be demanding, argumentative or hostile, and the condo managers are on the front line. You need strong customer service skills to manage your constituency with excellence.

Service recovery occurs when an organization is able to resolve a client issue and regain his or her trust following a breakdown in service delivery. A service breakdown occurs when the service delivered fails to meet a client’s expectations. In some cases, the product or service functions as it was designed or intended; however, the client has misunderstood how the product or service functions resulting in a service breakdown.

I moved into my first and only condominium approximately five years ago. It is an eleven-storey building located on the edge of the core downtown area. My wife and I were part of the first wave of residents moving into the 114 units. For many, this was their first time owning a condominium. It seemed a good number had owned and lived in condominiums previously.

People want to do the right thing; we as managers just need to make it easier for them. Small changes in the environment and systems can often have significant effect on peoples’ behaviour.

This is the first case of its kind to confirm that condo boards now have the tools to protect property managers from workplace harassment. (Finally! Good news for proper ty manager s ! ) . Although the condo brought an application to restrain an owner’s disruptive behaviour, more immediate action was required. The owner in York Condominium Corporation No. 288 v Rabie and Weinroth was harassing, threatening, and even assaulted the property pending the hearing of the application on its merits.

It starts innocently enough: An owner in your building breezes in with the news that she’s planning to put some decking and lighting on the balcony. “No problem, right?” she says.

Money spent on the best landscape design and best stones will be wasted if the brand-new driveway shows wear after just a few years. Especially if it needs to be re-done again within the owners’ memory! Good engineering design saves you money.