The Hidden Crisis in Condo Management: Who’s Protecting the Managers?

Ontario’s fast-growing condominium market has long been the focus of increasing regulation to improve governance, transparency, and accountability. While these rules are a win for condo owners and tenants, they often overlook a crucial group at the heart of this growing industry: condominium managers. These professionals are responsible for maintaining the day-to-day operations in buildings that can house hundreds of residents.

In Ontario, while the condo industry has benefited from increasing regulations for the sake of owners and tenants, condo managers and management companies find themselves in a vulnerable position. We are tasked with maintaining properties and supporting the residents—sometimes in challenging, even volatile situations—without adequate recourse when faced with aggressive or unfounded complaints. The challenges go far beyond what we originally signed up for; they have become an unsustainable emotional burden. With limited resources and support, managers and management companies are left to handle these issues mainly on their own, affecting their work and personal well-being.

The Complexities of Managing Vulnerable Residents

One of the more complex situations faced by condo managers involves residents who, due to mental health struggles, may act out in ways that disrupt community living. This can leave managers and boards with ongoing issues—frequent damage to common areas, repeated rule violations, and heightened security costs—which affect other residents through additional maintenance fees and other resources. With no external support or legal recourse to alleviate these ongoing challenges, management teams and boards are left to manage the situation as best as they can within their limited means.

The Threat of Personal Campaigns and Escalated Complaints

In some instances, managers may find themselves targeted by residents who perceive them as obstacles to their concerns. This can escalate to personal campaigns to dismiss the manager, often driven by grievances that lack legitimate grounds. For example, a manager may enforce essential safety regulations, like fire codes, as directed by municipal authorities. Yet, a resident may disregard the advice of leading experts, such as a municipal fire chief, who has issued a clear mandate that certain safety features, like fire doors, must remain unaltered to comply with fire safety standards.

Despite this high-level guidance, a resident might persist in making unapproved modifications, perceiving these safety protocols as an inconvenience. When the manager intervenes to restore compliance, the resident may retaliate by launching a personal campaign, filing multiple complaints, and repeatedly urging the board to dismiss the manager under the pretext that their concerns are not being addressed.

These situations place managers and their companies in a challenging position, as harassment complaints, though acknowledged, often fail to meet the threshold for significant regulatory intervention. Managers are left to navigate intense professional and personal stress without clear boundaries on what constitutes unacceptable harassment.

The result is an unstable work environment for managers and their support teams. Without defined guidelines or recourse for addressing unfounded complaints, the line between a manager's professional duties and personal well-being becomes increasingly blurred. The burden of managing these situations with limited support erodes the ability of managers to perform their roles to the highest standards, ultimately impacting the entire condominium community.

A Call for Action

The CMRAO was established to oversee and support condo managers, ensuring that high standards are maintained within the profession. However, when it comes to issues like mental health concerns or unaddressed behavioural matters, the existing frameworks fall short. Condo managers are asking: what will the CMRAO do to address these real and growing challenges? How can they shield managers and management companies from bearing the weight of responsibilities that fall outside the typical scope of property management?

Without greater protection, managers will continue to carry a burden far beyond their mandate, forced to balance compliance with safeguarding the interests of the community while risking their professional standing and mental health. The CMRAO needs to expand its support with clear definitions of harassment and consider additional protection for managers who navigate these difficult situations. Managers deserve the security of a safe work environment, free from baseless complaints and aggressive personal attacks, so they can fulfill their responsibilities without bearing the burden.

As the condominium industry expands, it's time to ensure that the professionals at its core aren't left fighting these battles alone. A well-managed condominium requires well-protected managers—and it's time to prioritize that.

Karen Rubin, RCM, has been working in the condominium industry since 2016. She has a background as a corporate and real estate law clerk with an honours bachelor degree from York University. When she is not managing condominiums, she is the chief chauffeur for her children’s social busy lives. 

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