An Ontario condo corporation has 10 days to deliver a status certificate and can charge at most $100 including taxes. Here is what the package contains, which pages decide the purchase, and why a buyer should never waive the condition.
A status certificate is the file an Ontario condo corporation has to hand over before you commit to a unit in it. Section 76 of the Condominium Act, 1998 sets out what goes inside, the corporation has 10 days to produce it once it has your request and your money, and the fee is capped at $100 including all applicable taxes. Zealty lists 4,528 active condo apartments in Toronto right now (Zealty active listing count, pulled October 13, 2026), and for any one of them this package is where the corporation's money problems surface. This covers what is in it, which pages decide the purchase, the deadline and fee the corporation is held to, and the condition you should never sign away.
What the certificate is, and what it costs
The certificate comes from section 76 of the Condominium Act, 1998 and is issued in a prescribed form. Subsection 18 (2) of O. Reg. 48/01 requires the form that the Condominium Authority of Ontario specifies and the Minister approves, and the CAO publishes it. Subsection 76 (3) gives the corporation 10 days after it receives a request and payment of the fee. Subsection 18 (4) of the same regulation caps that fee at $100, inclusive of all applicable taxes, for the certificate and all material required to be included in it.
Three provisions in section 76 work in the buyer's favour. If a certificate leaves out material information it was required to contain, subsection 76 (4) deems it to include a statement that there is no such information. If the corporation blows the 10 days, subsection 76 (5) deems it to have given a certificate the next day stating that there has been no default in the payment of common expenses for the unit, no declared increase in those expenses since the date of the current budget, and no assessments levied against the unit since that date. Subsection 76 (6) then binds the corporation to what the certificate contains or is deemed to contain, as against a purchaser or mortgagee of the unit who relies on it.
BC buyers meet the same disclosure split across three documents, the Form B Information Certificate, the strata meeting minutes and the depreciation report, while Ontario folds the equivalent into this one certificate and its attachments.
The pages that decide whether to buy
The prescribed form runs to more than thirty numbered items plus attachments. These are the ones that change a decision.
Reserve fund, items 13 and 14. The certificate gives the balance of the fund as of a date no earlier than the end of a month within 90 days of the certificate, the class and date of the most recent reserve fund study, who prepared it, and the date by which the next study is due. Section 94 of the Act requires those studies, and section 31 of O. Reg. 48/01 requires another one within three years of completing the last.
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The funding gap, items 15 to 17. If the board has not sent owners the notice described in subsection 94 (9), the certificate must state the opening balance for the year, the annual contribution, the expenditures the board anticipates from the fund this year, and whether the board anticipates the fund will be adequate for the expected costs of major repair and replacement. If the notice has gone out, the certificate says whether the proposed funding plan has been implemented, and if it has not, the reason. That answer is the funding gap, written by the board itself.
Common expenses and arrears, items 5 to 8. The monthly amount, the next due date, any prepaid amount, whether the owner is in default, and whether a certificate of lien has been registered against the unit under section 85 of the Act. Arrears travel with the unit, not with the seller.
Increases already declared, item 10. Any increase in common expenses for the unit since the date of the current budget, with the reason. Item 12 goes further and requires the corporation to state what it knows of any circumstances that may result in an increase.
Special assessments, item 11. Assessments the board has levied against the unit since the budget date to top up the reserve fund or the operating fund, with the reason. Item 17 covers assessments and increases still only planned under subsection 94 (8), which is the one buyers miss.
Litigation, items 18 to 22. Outstanding judgments, any proceeding before a court, an arbitrator or an administrative tribunal that the corporation is a party to, applications under section 109 to amend the declaration, outstanding new home warranty claims, and whether the Superior Court of Justice has appointed an inspector under section 130 or an administrator under section 131.
Insurance and the deductible, items 26 and 33 (d). The corporation confirms it holds the policies the Act requires, and a certificate or memorandum of insurance is attached. Under section 105 the portion of a loss excluded by a deductible clause is a common expense, but if an owner, a tenant or someone living in the unit with the owner's permission or knowledge damages that unit by an act or omission, the lesser of the repair cost and the deductible limit is added to the common expenses for the unit. Subsection 105 (3) lets the corporation pass a by-law widening those circumstances, so read the by-laws with the deductible number.
Pets, rentals and parking, item 33 (a). The current declaration, by-laws and rules come attached, and they are where a pet weight limit, a short-term rental ban or a parking restriction lives. Item 24 gives the number of units the corporation was told were leased in the previous fiscal year under section 83, the closest thing the package has to a rental density figure.
The agreements, item 33 (c) and item 34. The certificate attaches a list of the corporation's management, mutual use and shared facilities agreements under sections 111, 112 and 113, not the agreements themselves. Item 34 sets out what subsections 76 (7) and (8) give the person who paid for the certificate: on a written request and reasonable notice the corporation must let you examine those agreements, and it must provide copies for a reasonable fee covering its labour and copying. A management contract or a shared facilities agreement with a neighbouring building can carry costs that appear nowhere else in the package.
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The red flags
Every numbered statement on the form is written as good news with an "except" hanging off it. The exceptions carry the information.
A reserve fund study at or past the three-year mark under section 31 of O. Reg. 48/01, or a next-study date that has already gone by.
A board that answers item 15 by saying it does not anticipate the fund will be adequate this year, or a plan under item 16 that has been proposed and not implemented.
Contributions that are not being made in accordance with the contribution table in the most recent notice to owners, which means the plan exists on paper only.
Arrears on the unit at item 5, or a certificate of lien registered against it. Both follow the unit to the new owner.
An order appointing an inspector or an administrator at item 22. That is a governance failure, and it costs more to fix than a roof.
Litigation at item 19 against a developer or a contractor. Construction claims run for years, and the legal cost lands on common expenses.
The condition, and why you should not waive it
Resale condo offers in Ontario are normally made conditional on the buyer's solicitor reviewing the status certificate and its attachments and approving them in the buyer's sole and absolute discretion, within a set number of days after the certificate is delivered. Two things make the days worth spending. The certificate speaks as of its own date, so one the seller ordered months ago describes a corporation that may have levied an assessment since, and the corporation is entitled to take the full 10 days allowed by subsection 76 (3) before it hands over a fresh one.
Waiving the condition removes the only exit that keeps your deposit, and it drops the protection in subsection 76 (6), because a buyer who never read the certificate has nothing to rely on. Order it the day the offer is accepted, give the lawyer real time with the reserve fund pages and the by-laws, and treat a late certificate as a reason to extend rather than to waive.
Where to start
Check the date on the certificate first, then read items 13 to 17 and the declaration and by-laws in one sitting. You can browse active Toronto listings or search across Ontario on Zealty. Ontario listing data on Zealty comes from the CREA Data Distribution Facility (DDF) feed, and it is limited to what that feed covers, which is active listings rather than sold history.
This article is educational and is not legal advice. Statutory references are to the Condominium Act, 1998 and O. Reg. 48/01 as published on Ontario's e-Laws and retrieved October 13, 2026. Confirm your own situation with a lawyer before you act on any of it.
NOTE: This representation is based in whole or in part on data generated by Greater Vancouver REALTORS®, Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board, or The Canadian Real Estate Association which assume no responsibility for its accuracy. This information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by these organizations or by the agent or brokerage hosting this website. Data presented here is under the license agreement of Holywell Properties, a British Columbia Brokerage.
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