In Quebec condominiums, a subtle yet troubling trend is gaining momentum: the politicization of the contingency fund.
With Bill 16, the legislature’s intent was clear: to make this tool a mechanism for long-term planning, ensuring the sustainability of buildings without imposing financial shocks on co-owners.
In practice, however, its implementation raises certain questions.
Boards of directors are elected. And as in any electoral context, financial decisions can sometimes be influenced by short-term considerations: limiting increases, postponing certain projects, easing immediate pressure.
Yet, a building does not negotiate with time.
Components age, infrastructure deteriorates, and deferred costs do not disappear—they accumulate.
What appears to be a saving today may become a significant burden tomorrow.
Added to this challenge is a more technical, yet equally critical, dimension: the assumptions used in contingency fund studies are not consistent across professionals.
Inflation, component lifespans, rates of return, and whether certain work is included or excluded: these parameters can vary from one expert to another, with significant impacts on the results.
Thus, for the same building, recommendations may differ significantly, without it always being easy for co-owners to understand the reasons why.
This variability raises questions of transparency and comparability.
It may also lead some boards of directors to favor, consciously or unconsciously, the least restrictive scenarios in the short term.
The most concerning aspect is that this new approach—where one believes oneself to be protected by studies of the contingency fund—could create a false sense of security.
Although a condominium may appear to be well-managed, it could in reality be accumulating an invisible deficit. A liability that does not always appear clearly… until the day it becomes impossible to ignore.
In this context, the issue of standardizing practices becomes central.
Many industry stakeholders believe that a framework of common assumptions could improve the clarity of studies and facilitate comparisons between buildings.
Without diminishing the role of professional judgment, such an approach would help limit discrepancies in interpretation and would allow for:
By 2028, all co-ownership syndicates in Quebec will be required to maintain a maintenance log and a contingency fund study.
This stricter requirement imposed by Bill 16 and its implementing regulations was necessary to improve the management of the assets. However, we must follow this logic through to its conclusion: the reports must be useful in guiding directors in their work and must enable potential buyers to effectively compare properties.
Hence the need for a more structured framework that proposes common assumptions and leads to a single financing scenario.
For a director, saying that an increase in condo fees is necessary is never popular, especially not with his neighbors. Planning major renovations is no more popular. However, this is precisely where the quality of governance comes into play.
Maintenance logs and contingency fund studies must serve to protect assets, and to do so, we must facilitate sound decision-making in buildings through well-conducted studies.
Without standardizing practices, Bill 16 risks creating an illusion of rigor… while allowing for new forms of underfunding.
Elise Beauchesne, CPA, Adm.A
Founding Partner
Over the past few days, the Montreal area has experienced rapid and significant snow melt, a typical phenomenon at the end of winter when spring sets in.
This situation is even more critical this year given the significant amount of snow received—no less than 111 inches in Montreal—and the rain expected in the very short term, particularly on March 10, 11, and 12. The volume of new precipitation, combined with the accelerated melting of the snow cover, is putting considerable pressure on the natural drainage of the land.
For condominium administrators, this period is a key time for observation and intervention in order to limit risks to the building, infrastructure, and finances of the syndicate.
The slope of the land around a building is not just an aesthetic detail: it is the first line of defense against water infiltration.
An inadequate or slumped slope can:
With the repeated freeze-thaw cycles observed in the Quebec spring, these problems quickly worsen.
Administrators can make some simple visual observations during periods of snowmelt and rain:
Around the building
Inside
These signs are often interpreted as isolated problems, when in fact they frequently indicate a slope that is deficient or has deteriorated over time.
In the short and medium term
An often-underestimated risk concerns water accumulations that are not drained and freeze during cold spells in the spring:
These repeated freeze/thaw cycles are particularly damaging in Quebec and contribute to major long-term maintenance costs.
Leveling or correcting the slope of the land:
In many cases, simply correcting the slope around the first few meters of the building is enough to significantly reduce the risk of infiltration.
Spring is the ideal time to:
Acting now means protecting the building, the association’s finances, and the peace of mind of the co-owners.
Samanta Pilon-Langlois
Director of Operations
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