Ontario · Condominium Act, 1998
What changes for Ontario condo boards on December 31, 2026
On December 31, 2026, amendments made by the Protecting Condominium Owners Act, 2015 to the rules on owners’ meetings come into force, together with the regulation changes that fill them in (O. Reg. 236/26). Three things change for boards: how owners requisition a meeting, the board seat reserved for resident owners, and a few notices and records. Here is what changes, what stays the same, and which date decides which rules you are under.
Short answer From December 31, 2026, a requisition must use the prescribed form, the board has 20 days to answer it in writing and then 40 days to hold the meeting, and the owner-occupied board seat becomes a seat for non-leased voting units that owners must ask for. A requisition received, or a preliminary notice sent, before that day stays under the old rules. Condominium Act, 1998 ss. 46, 51, as replaced; O. Reg. 48/01 ss. 12.2.3, 79, 80
At a glance
| Topic | Before December 31, 2026 | From December 31, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Who can requisition | Owners of 15% of the units who are in the s. 46.1 record and entitled to vote | Owners of 15% of the units who are in the s. 46.1 record (or should be) and have no common expense arrears of 30 days or more s. 46(1) |
| Form | In writing, signed, stating the business | The prescribed form, Requisition to Call and Hold a Meeting of Owners s. 46(5); O. Reg. 48/01 s. 12.2.1 |
| Board’s answer | No answer step | Written response within 20 days; silence counts as yes s. 46(7), (10); O. Reg. 48/01 s. 12.2.3 |
| Meeting deadline | Call and hold within 35 days of receiving it | Call and hold within 40 days after the 20 day response period ends s. 46(11)(b) |
| If the board does not act | A requisitionist may call the meeting, held within 45 days | No self-help meeting. A refused requisition can be revised within 10 days or taken to the Tribunal or the court within 20 days s. 46(13), (15) |
| Reserved board seat | Exists if at least 15% of units are owner-occupied | Exists only if an owner asks for it in time, and non-leased voting units are a minority of the units s. 51(5), (6) |
| Vote lost for arrears | Any contributions in arrears 30 days or more | Contributions to the common expenses in arrears 30 days or more s. 49(1) |
Which date decides
The changeover is not “everything switches on December 31.” The regulation pins each part to an event:
- Requisitions follow the day the board received them. One received before December 31, 2026 runs under the old section 46 to the end, even if its meeting lands in February. O. Reg. 48/01 s. 80
- The reserved seat and the new notice contents follow the preliminary notice. They apply to a meeting only if its preliminary notice goes out on or after December 31, 2026. A meeting whose preliminary notice went out on December 29 stays under the old rules. O. Reg. 48/01 s. 79
- A seat that already exists carries over. A director in the reserved position on December 30, or a vacancy in it, continues as a position or vacancy under the new rule. O. Reg. 48/01 s. 81
December 31, 2026 is the day named by order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, as printed in the official consolidation on e-Laws. It is checked every Monday, and this page will say so if it moves.
Requisitions: a form, an answer, then a meeting
Section 46 is repealed and replaced in full. The 15% threshold survives, and parking, storage and service units are still left out of the count (O. Reg. 48/01 s. 1.1). Almost everything around it changes.
Who can sign
Owners who, when the board receives the requisition, own at least 15% of the units, appear in the corporation’s s. 46.1 record (or are required to), and have no contributions to the common expenses in arrears for 30 days or more. s. 46(1) For business about the director in the reserved seat, the bar is 15% of the non-leased voting units instead; a requisition that misses that bar but meets the general one can still go ahead for its other business. s. 46(2), (3)
The prescribed form
The requisition must be on the prescribed form, Requisition to Call and Hold a Meeting of Owners, and carry the prescribed information. s. 46(5); O. Reg. 48/01 s. 12.2.1 That includes the number of units and what 15% of them is, each requisitionist’s unit, the purpose of the meeting and a summary, whether the business should go to the next AGM instead, the name and reasons for any director to be removed, a signature and date for each requisitionist, one or two contacts for the board’s response, and the one person who may withdraw it.
Delivery
Personally or by registered mail to the president or secretary, or left at the address for service, as now. s. 46(6) The regulation adds prepaid mail, courier or the mailbox at the corporation’s or the manager’s address for service, or an address the board picks by resolution, and email or fax only if the board has accepted that method by resolution. O. Reg. 48/01 s. 12.2.2
The clock
- Within 20 days, the board answers in writing: it will call and hold the meeting, or it will not, and why the requisition does not comply. No answer in time counts as yes. s. 46(7), (10); O. Reg. 48/01 s. 12.2.3
- Within 40 days after the 20 day period ends, the board calls and holds the meeting. If the requisitionists asked for it (or later agree in writing), the business goes on the next AGM held at least 40 days after that point instead. s. 46(11)
- Withdrawal: the requisitionist named on the form may withdraw it by written notice. Withdrawn within 15 days after delivery, the board need not respond; withdrawn later but before the meeting, the meeting need not be held. s. 46(8), (12); O. Reg. 48/01 s. 12.2.4
- If the board refuses: the requisitionists may revise it on a fresh form within 10 days, or within 20 days apply to the Condominium Authority Tribunal or the Superior Court of Justice. Otherwise it is treated as abandoned. s. 46(13), (15); O. Reg. 48/01 s. 12.2.7
The 15 and 20 day notice minimums in s. 47 still apply inside the 40 days.
Example. The board receives a requisition on Monday, January 4, 2027. Day 20 is Sunday, January 24, so the written response is due Monday, January 25 (Legislation Act, 2006 s. 89(1)). The 40 days run from the end of the 20 day period, so the meeting must be held by Friday, March 5, 2027. Had the same requisition arrived on Wednesday, December 30, 2026, the old 35 day rule would apply: meeting by Wednesday, February 3, 2027.
Work out your own dates with the requisition calculator or the notice of meeting calculator. Both pick the right version from the date the board received it.
The reserved board seat: from owner-occupied to non-leased voting units
Ontario can reserve one board position for the owners of residential units that are not rented out. On December 31, 2026 the test for that seat is rewritten, and it now depends on an owner asking for it.
Who holds the vote
A non-leased voting unit is a residential unit whose owner is entitled to vote on electing or removing a director, and which was not leased in the 60 days before the board gave the preliminary notice for the meeting. s. 1(1) A unit counts as not leased if the corporation’s lease record under s. 83 does not show it as leased, or the corporation has received no s. 83 notice about it. O. Reg. 48/01 s. 1.1(5) That makes the s. 83 lease record matter more than it used to.
When the seat exists
Only the owners of non-leased voting units can fill or remove the reserved seat at a meeting, if both of these are true: s. 51(6)
- an owner of a non-leased voting unit delivered, within 15 days after the preliminary notice, a signed written statement that they own one and a written request that someone be elected to the reserved position s. 51(5); O. Reg. 48/01 s. 12.2(7), (8); and
- on the last day of that 15 day period, there is at least one non-leased voting unit, and non-leased voting units are a minority of the units.
Today the seat exists whenever at least 15% of the units are owner-occupied units. Under the new rule it exists only where non-leased voting units are in the minority, and only if an owner asks for it in time.
Term and removal
A director in the reserved seat may stay on past the end of the term only until the earlier of a successor’s election and the first AGM after the term ends. s. 31(2) Removing that director takes the votes of the owners of more than 50% of all the non-leased voting units. s. 51(8)
Notices and records
- Preliminary notice. When the reserved seat is vacant or will be by the meeting, the preliminary notice must include the text of the definition and of s. 51(5) and (6), the last day of the 15 day period, a request for the owners’ statements, and a request that candidates for the seat notify the board in writing by a stated date. s. 45.1(1)(a.1); O. Reg. 48/01 s. 12.2(2)(f.1) The same applies when the business came from a requisition about the reserved seat, or when the seat’s director has resigned with effect by the meeting. O. Reg. 48/01 s. 12.2(6)
- Notice of meeting. If the seat is reserved, the notice says so and names each candidate who notified the board. s. 28(3)
- Periodic information certificate. It must identify any director in the reserved seat. O. Reg. 48/01 s. 11.1(1)(d.1)
- Record of owners and mortgagees. The s. 46.1 record gains a note for each owner’s unit: whether the s. 83 record shows it as leased, and whether it is used for residential purposes. O. Reg. 48/01 s. 12.6.1(1) para 3
- Voting and arrears. An owner still cannot vote while contributions to the common expenses for the unit are 30 days or more in arrears, and can again once the arrears are paid before the meeting. Only the wording tightens. s. 49(1), (2)
What does not change
- The notice timing: the notice of meeting at least 15 days before the meeting, and the preliminary notice at least 20 days before that. s. 47(1)
- The 15% requisition threshold, and leaving parking, storage and service units out of it. O. Reg. 48/01 s. 1.1
- Quorum, the AGM deadline, records requests, status certificates, liens and reserve fund studies. None of the sections behind those calculators carries a December 31, 2026 change.
A December checklist for boards
- Get the prescribed requisition form and decide where a requisition can be delivered. If you want email or fax delivery, or a dedicated address, pass the board resolution. O. Reg. 48/01 ss. 12.2.1, 12.2.2
- Put the 20 day response and the 40 day meeting clock in your calendar for any requisition received from December 31.
- Make sure the s. 83 lease record is current. It now decides which units are non-leased voting units. O. Reg. 48/01 s. 1.1(5)
- Update your preliminary notice and notice of meeting templates for meetings where the reserved seat is open. ss. 28(3), 45.1(1)(a.1)
- Add the reserved-seat director line to your information certificate template. O. Reg. 48/01 s. 11.1(1)(d.1)
- Note which requisitions and preliminary notices are dated before December 31. They finish under the old rules.
Sources
Read on 27 October 2026 against the official consolidations on e-Laws (currency date 22 October 2026): the Condominium Act, 1998, ss. 1(1), 28(3), 31(2), 45.1(1), 46, 49(1) and (2) and 51(5) to (8) as amended by S.O. 2015, c. 28, Sched. 1, ss. 1(11), 26(2), 28, 39(2) and (3), 40, 44(1) and 46(2) to (4); and O. Reg. 48/01, ss. 1.1(5), 11.1(1)(d.1), 12.2, 12.2.1 to 12.2.7, 12.6.1 and 79 to 81 as amended by O. Reg. 236/26; and the Legislation Act, 2006, ss. 88 and 89, for counting days. These are not-yet-in-force provisions, printed on e-Laws beside the text in force today. The sources are checked every Monday by an automated watcher, and the monitoring record shows each check.
General information, not legal advice. Your corporation’s declaration and by-laws can add requirements. For anything contested, talk to a condominium lawyer.
All Ontario calculators · Ontario cheat sheet · How we verify
Published 27 October 2026.