Condo Management Contract Review Quebec

A condo management contract review Quebec syndicates can rely on starts with the written mandate, not the proposal brochure. Directors should test whether the contract names the syndicate, matches the declaration of co-ownership, and states the services, reports, spending limits, and exit steps the board expects. This is an operational checklist. It is not legal advice, and a Quebec lawyer should interpret any clause that affects authority or liability.

In brief: Collect the full contract and its schedules. Confirm the syndicate is the client and that the board keeps governance decisions. Match each service, report, vendor step, and fee to a written duty. Then check renewal notice, records handover, and what stays outside the manager's authority.

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What should a condo management contract review in Quebec cover?

Treat the review as a file check before anyone signs or renews. Ask one practical question. If a director left tomorrow, could the others see what the manager must do, what the manager must not do, and how the syndicate gets its records back?

Assemble one complete set. Include the contract, every schedule, the fee sheet, the current declaration of co-ownership, and the board resolution that authorizes the review. If a schedule is missing, stop and ask for it. A missing exhibit is often where scope, insurance, or extra fees live.

Read the parties first. The client should be the syndicate of co-owners, under its legal name. It should not be a single director, and it should not be "the condo." The address, the immovable, and the start date should match the building the board administers. A contract written for a rental owner can look familiar and still be the wrong instrument.

Then separate three layers that boards often blend together:

• The declaration and by-laws set the building's rules and the board's powers.
• The management contract states which day-to-day tasks the syndicate asks a firm to perform.
• Board and meeting decisions adopt budgets, by-laws, special assessments, and other governance acts.

Section 1085 of the Civil Code of Quebec says the day-to-day administration of the syndicate may be entrusted to a manager. That manager acts as an administrator of the property of others charged with simple administration. The Gouvernement du Québec explains the syndicate's role and related condo measures on its divided co-ownership page. A contract cannot quietly move a decision the declaration reserves to the board or the meeting. If the wording is unclear, mark it for counsel rather than guessing.

PGK Realty Services has worked with Montreal property owners since 1986, including condominium mandates. A proposal can describe how a firm would support a syndicate. The signed contract is still the document the board should be able to audit.

How should directors test service scope?

Scope is the heart of the review. List the work the board believes it is buying, then find each item as a duty, an option, or an exclusion. "Full service" is not a duty. A sentence that names the work, the standard, and the limit is.

For a Quebec condominium, a practical scope list often includes common-area maintenance coordination, vendor oversight, collection of common expenses, bookkeeping for the syndicate, meeting support, and owner communications. It may also include insurance-claim file coordination and help preparing materials for a reserve study. None of those items should be assumed because they appeared in a sales meeting.

Mark each line as included, excluded, or extra. Extras need a trigger: who requests the work, who approves the fee, and how the invoice is described. A contract that leaves "additional administrative services" undefined invites disputes at year-end.

Watch for duties the manager cannot perform alone. Calling a meeting, adopting a budget, amending a by-law, or deciding a special contribution are syndicate decisions. The manager can prepare notices, drafts, and schedules. The contract should say so, and it should say the board remains responsible for the decision.

Also check what the contract does not cover. Legal opinions, engineering reports, reserve-fund studies prepared by a qualified professional, and capital projects above a stated threshold are common exclusions. That is healthy when the exclusion is explicit. It is a problem when the board thinks the annual fee includes them. For the planning work that follows a study, see the condo reserve fund study guide. Do not treat the management contract as a substitute for that study.

Which reporting and records should the contract require?

A syndicate cannot oversee what it cannot see. The contract should name the reports, the period they cover, the due date, and the format. "Regular reporting" fails that test. A monthly package by the tenth business day passes it. The board should be able to download the file.

Ask for a package a new director could read without a private login that only the manager controls. At minimum, directors should know where to find:

• A receipts and disbursements summary for common expenses and other syndicate funds.
• A list of arrears and the collection step last taken.
• Unpaid invoices and the approval status of each.
• Bank reconciliation support for syndicate accounts.
• Open maintenance items, with the vendor, the cost, and the expected close date.
• Insurance claims in progress and documents still outstanding.
• A copy of contracts the manager signed or recommended within the spending limit.

The monthly report template shows the kind of owner reporting a management file can support. A syndicate version should add common-expense arrears, meeting follow-up, and reserve-fund movements. The contract does not need to paste a template. It does need to say the board receives the reports and the backup.

Records ownership matters as much as the report. Minutes, owner ledgers, contracts, plans, warranties, insurance policies, and the declaration should be identified as syndicate records. The manager may hold working copies. The contract should state that the syndicate can obtain them during the term, not only after a dispute. Name the file format and a reasonable delivery time.

Banking language deserves a slow read. Prefer syndicate accounts in the syndicate's name, with signing rules the board sets. If the manager holds a view-only or payment role, the contract should say who can add a payee and who can release funds. Dual control is an operational control, not a sign of distrust.

Which governance decisions should stay with the board?

Delegation is not the same as replacement. A sound contract draws a bright line between day-to-day administration and decisions reserved to the board or the general meeting. Directors should be able to point to that line in one section, not infer it from scattered phrases.

Use the declaration as the first filter. If the declaration or a by-law assigns a power to the meeting or the board, the management contract should not grant that power to the manager. Where the declaration is silent, the contract should still list decisions that require a written board instruction. Typical examples are adopting the annual budget, placing insurance, starting a lawsuit, approving a special assessment, and changing house rules.

Spending authority is the clause boards feel first. Set a peso-free dollar limit in Canadian dollars, state whether it is per invoice or per project, and say what happens when an invoice crosses the limit. Emergency work can have a separate path. Make the building safe, tell a named director promptly, and bring the file to the next board review. "Emergency" should not mean any repair the manager prefers to start today.

Meeting support should also stay on the right side of the line. Preparing a draft notice, a budget workbook, or a status memo is management work. Deciding the agenda's resolutions, declaring a vote, or signing a by-law is not. If the contract includes annual-meeting support, say the board calls the meeting and approves the documents.

The same discipline applies to co-owner enforcement. The manager can send the notices the board has approved and can track deadlines. Fines, legal hypothecs, and formal proceedings need a board decision and, where the stakes are legal, counsel. Put that sequence in the contract so a later board is not surprised by a letter sent in the syndicate's name.

How should the contract handle vendors and building work?

Vendor coordination is where a management contract becomes visible in the building. Reviewers should see who finds contractors, who compares bids, who signs, and who confirms the work is complete. A single sentence that says the manager "looks after maintenance" leaves every one of those steps open.

A workable version has four beats. The manager keeps a list of recurring contracts and their end dates. Work above the board's threshold goes out for more than one quote, unless the board records a reason not to. The manager recommends. The board, or a director within a written limit, approves. The manager then checks the invoice against the approval and the completed work.

Ask how conflicts are disclosed. If the firm, an affiliate, or a related supplier may bid on work, the contract should require written disclosure before the board decides. Silence is not a conflict policy. Related-party work can be legitimate, but only when the board can see it and can choose another supplier.

Insurance and site safety belong in this section too. The contract should say which party confirms that a contractor provides the insurance the syndicate requires before work starts, and where that proof is filed. It should not promise that the manager is the contractor's insurer or the building's engineer.

Tie capital work back to the planning documents the syndicate already has. A manager can gather quotes, schedule access, and report progress against a board-approved project. The contract should not make the manager the author of the reserve study or the person who sets contribution levels. Those choices remain with the syndicate and its advisors. For the service relationship around the building itself, the condo management services page describes operating controls. This review is about whether the contract records them.

What renewal and handover terms should directors read twice?

Renewal language decides whether the board gets a real choice. Find the end date, the notice period, and the address or method for notice. If renewal is automatic, write the notice deadline on the board calendar as soon as the contract is signed. A 60- or 90-day notice that nobody tracks is an automatic renewal in practice.

Prefer a fixed term the board can revisit, with any extension requiring a written board decision. If the contract renews unless notice is given, confirm the notice can be sent by a method the syndicate actually uses, and that a receipt is possible. Avoid a clause that renews for several years after a short initial term unless the board has discussed that commitment on purpose.

Handover is the other half of the exit. The contract should require delivery of syndicate records, keys, fobs, codes, open invoices, and account access within a stated number of days after the end date. It should also say which sums the manager may retain, if any, and which sums must be paid to the syndicate or the incoming manager. Holdback language that is open-ended can freeze the building's cash during a transition.

Ongoing work needs a bridge. Open vendor jobs, insurance claims, and arrears files should transfer with a status note. The outgoing manager should not be required to keep providing full service for free, and the syndicate should not lose the file history. A short, priced transition window is cleaner than an argument later.

Termination for cause, convenience, or non-payment is a legal clause. Directors can check that the operational steps exist: written notice, a chance to cure where the contract offers one, a final accounting, and the records list. They should ask counsel before relying on a termination right. Nothing in this checklist interprets whether a clause is enforceable.

How can a board run the review without turning it into legal advice?

Give the review an owner and a deadline. One director, often the treasurer or the president, collects the file. The full board then walks the checklist in a working session. The goal of that session is a marked copy: accepted, question, or change. It is not a redraft of the contract in the meeting.

Use a short sequence:

1. Confirm the copy is complete, including schedules and the fee page.
2. Check the syndicate name, the building, and the term against the declaration and the board resolution.
3. Mark each expected service as included, excluded, or extra.
4. Circle spending limits, report dates, bank authority, and vendor approval.
5. Write the renewal notice date on the board calendar.
6. List records the syndicate must be able to retrieve on request.
7. Send only the legal questions to counsel, with the marked pages attached.

Keep commercial comments separate from legal ones. A request for the arrears list by the tenth is a management point the board can negotiate. Whether an indemnity covers the directors is a question for a lawyer. Mixing them produces a long letter that neither the manager nor counsel can answer cleanly.

A proposal is still useful. It shows how a firm would staff the building, which reports it would issue, and which work it treats as included. Compare that proposal with the contract before signing, and keep both. If a service is only in the proposal, ask for it to be added to the contract or a schedule. For how a broader owner proposal is usually structured, the property management request for proposal guide is a companion, not a syndicate checklist.

PGK prepares management proposals by property, including condominium mandates. Pricing is proposal-based. The board should still review the eventual contract with the same checklist, and should involve its own lawyer for legal terms.

Frequently asked questions

Is a condo management contract the same as a rental management agreement?

No. A rental agreement is usually between an owner and a manager and covers leasing, rent, and that owner's unit or building. A condo contract is with the syndicate and covers common portions, common expenses, and support to the board. Using a rental form for a syndicate leaves the wrong party, the wrong money, and the wrong decisions on the page.

Can the board delegate every decision to the manager?

No. Day-to-day administration can be entrusted to a manager under section 1085 of the Civil Code of Quebec. Budgets, by-laws, special assessments, and other powers reserved by the declaration or the law stay with the board or the meeting. The contract should show that split. A lawyer should confirm it for the specific building.

What if the current contract renews automatically?

Find the end date and the notice period, then put the notice deadline on the board calendar. Automatic renewal is not itself a reason to leave or stay. It is a reason to review scope, fees, and reporting before the window closes. Ask counsel before sending a termination notice.

Should the reserve fund study be inside the management contract?

The contract can require the manager to gather records, coordinate access, and report on projects the board has approved. The study itself is a professional planning document. Contribution levels and major repair choices remain syndicate decisions. Do not expect the annual management fee to include the study unless the contract says so in writing.

Who should keep the syndicate's records?

The syndicate owns its records. The manager may store working copies and should provide board access during the term. The contract should set the format and the number of days for handover at the end, including ledgers, minutes, contracts, plans, keys, and account access. Do not leave retrieval to goodwill.

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