City Place dog owners have something to be worried about. A condo board proposal to ban pets in their buildings has left some residents worried.
3 Navy Wharf and 5 Mariner Terrace, which are governed by the same condo board, have proposed a ban on pets. Under the proposed rules, existing owners would be able to keep their pets but new residents would be barred from owning dogs or cats. However, service animals under 25lbs would still be permitted.
A petition against the ban is currently posted at the concierges for both buildings. If 15% of owners sign the petition, the condo board would need a majority vote to implement the change.
Similar to the challenges faced in Liberty Village with pets, dense vertical neighbourhoods see a lot of tensions between pet owners and other residents due to the problems associated with dog poop, free-run pets in common areas and unattended pets on balconies and elsewhere.
Prominent real estate lawyer Denise Lash has said that she doubts that such a ban would even be legally binding as “it wasn’t contained in the condo’s original declaration”.
This presents a real dilemma for pet-owning future residents of these City Place buildings. What do you think? Could this happen in Liberty Village?
The original article can be found in today’s Metro News.
Update! (August 29th)
The condo board responsible for 3 Navy Wharf Ct.and 5 Mariner Terrace passed the ban last Thursday, despite an outcry from pet-owning residents. Complaints or not, condo and real estate lawyer Gerry Miller said he isn’t sure if the condo board’s new ban will be enforceable.
He said that it all comes down to the condo building’s original rules, called the condo declaration, which was written when the buildings were constructed.
“Let’s say you have a declaration that permits one cat and one dog — that’s typically what it says — [this new rule] that totally prohibits pets could very well be unenforceable, provided an owner takes the board of directors to task for it.”
In a section of the building’s declaration, obtained by the CBC, there were no prohibitions on pets.
Miller said that a declaration can only be changed if 90 per cent of condo owners agree to it, something residents said they were never asked about. As quoted in the CBC.
