Special Assessments & Reserve Funds
Community Situation Reserve Fund Spending PrioritiesWhen the Reserve Fund Pays for the Wrong Things First
A window replacement tied to mould and failing seals stayed deferred while cosmetic work and a large structural repair went ahead, leaving the owner asking who decides what the reserve fund pays for first.
An owner in an aging Ontario building described a years-long dispute over what their corporation's reserve fund should pay for first. A window-replacement project, which the owner said was needed because of mould and failing seals, had been paused. In the same period, in the owner's account, the board directed attention toward interior common-area decorating, and a much larger amount was spent on structural and garage repairs. A phased plan spread over several years was later proposed for the windows, and a financing option was reportedly declined.
The owner's frustration was not that the corporation had no money or refused every repair. It was the ordering: a repair tied to a health and building-envelope concern kept losing its place in line to projects the owner saw as less urgent. That is a different problem from a reserve-fund shortfall, and it is harder for owners to see clearly, because each individual spending decision can look defensible on its own. The reserve fund study and the board's own minutes are where the ordering either holds up or does not: the study says what was supposed to happen and when, and the minutes record what the board decided instead and why.
The owner said they were preparing to take the dispute to the Condominium Authority Tribunal and had gathered their evidence. Whether the Tribunal can actually decide a dispute about repair priorities is a question to verify before filing, not assume: CAT hears specific categories of disputes, its jurisdiction depends on the type of issue and the wording of the governing documents, and its power to award money is much narrower than a court's. What is clearly within reach is the paper trail itself, since records like the reserve fund study, board minutes, and budget materials are what Ontario's records-request framework exists to give owners access to. Nothing in the owner's account resolves whether this particular board's ordering was justified; what other owners can take from it is the checking method, not a verdict.
Documents an owner in this situation should gather
- The current reserve fund study, and the previous one, so the deferred project's original timing and cost can be compared
- Any engineering or condition report on the deferred repair itself
- Board minutes covering the decision to pause the project, and the decisions approving the other spending
- The proposed phased plan, with its schedule and per-phase costs
- Any record of the financing option that was considered, and the board's stated reason for declining it
Questions to ask management or the board
- 1Where does the deferred repair sit in the current reserve fund study, and what did the previous study say about its timing?
- 2What changed the order: was the reprioritization a recorded board decision with reasons, or did the project simply stop appearing?
- 3Was the financing option formally considered, and is the board's reason for declining it recorded anywhere an owner can read?
- 4Before filing anywhere, which forum actually has jurisdiction over this type of dispute, and what can it realistically order?
Facing something like this?
Read the plain-language guidance for this exact situation, or run your own documents through the Free Notice Decoder.
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Curated and maintained by Alexander Baraz, Condo Owner Advocate.
This is a Community Situation: a real situation shared publicly by a condo owner, most often in an Ontario Facebook community group. It is included for educational purposes only. It is not a Condo Owner Advocate client, not COA casework, not a testimonial, and not legal advice.