Board adopted reasonable interpretation of declaration and applied rules in reasonable fashion

Short-term rentals. Respondent condominium's rule 9(f) prohibited leases of less than six months without prior approval of board, and applicant unit owners admitted they knew when they purchased units. S. 5.3 of declaration was interpreted by board to allow, but not require it to allow, short-term leasing, so respondent read it as compatible with rule 9(f), which it consistently enforced. To eliminate doubt, respondent brought application to delete s. 5.3 from declaration, but court expressed concern it was seeking amendment not correction, so respondent withdrew application and sought approval from unit holders. S. 107 of Condominium Act requiring approval of at least 80 per cent of unit owners for amendment and respondent currently had approval of over 60 per cent and believed only few unit owners objected. Applicants argued s. 5.3 permitted short-term leasing and rules could not contravene declaration, so rule 9(f) was invalid and respondent was behaving oppressively in enforcing. Applicants brought application for declaration that short-term leaving was allowed at condominium, injunction prohibiting respondent from preventing short-term leaving, declaration respondent behaved in oppressive manner, damages and costs. Application dismissed. Board acted diligently and in good faith and adopted reasonable interpretation of declaration and rules and applied rules in reasonable fashion and did not act oppressively. Board recognized that s. 5.3 of declaration was not clear and its interpretation was reasonable and fortified by fact that it was implemented at same time as rules. In circumstances, respondent could not have reasonably expected they could lease units as they pleased.

Kumar v. Toronto Standard Condominium Corporation No. 2492 (2020), 2020 CarswellOnt 1711, 2020 ONSC 956, Gillian Roberts J. (Ont. S.C.J.).

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