Reading a Condo Status Certificate Before You Buy in Ontario

Key points

• A condominium corporation must give a status certificate for a unit to anyone who requests one.

• The certificate reports on the unit's common expenses, the corporation's budget and reserve fund, legal actions, leasing and insurance.

• The corporation must give the status certificate within 10 days after it receives the request and everything else subsection 76(3) requires.

• If a certificate is late or omits required material information, the Act deems certain statements to have been made.

• The certificate binds the corporation as against a purchaser or mortgagee who relies on it.

What a status certificate is

Section 76 of the Condominium Act, 1998 governs status certificates. Anyone can request one, and a condominium corporation must give a certificate for a unit to each person who does. It must be in the prescribed form and state the date on which it was made.

What it must contain

Among other things, the certificate must include:

• a statement of the unit's common expenses and any default in paying them;

• any increase in the unit's common expenses that the board has declared since the current year's budget, and the reason for it;

• any assessments the board has levied against the unit since that budget to increase the reserve fund contribution, and the reason;

• a copy of the current declaration, by-laws and rules;

• a statement of all outstanding judgments against the corporation and the status of all legal actions to which it is a party;

• the current year's budget, the last annual audited financial statements and the auditor's report on them;

• a statement on the most recent reserve fund study and its updates, the amount in the reserve fund and any current plans to increase it;

• a statement of substantial changes the board has proposed but not implemented, with their purpose;

• the number of units the corporation was notified were leased in the preceding fiscal year; and

• a certificate or memorandum of insurance for each current insurance policy.

The proposed changes in that list are additions, alterations or improvements to the common elements, and changes in the corporation's assets or services. The reserve fund amount must be stated as of the end of a month within 90 days of the certificate's date.

The 10-day timeline

The corporation must give the status certificate within 10 days after it receives the request and everything else subsection 76(3) requires.

A corporation that misses that deadline is deemed to have given a certificate on the next day. That deemed certificate states that:

• there has been no default in paying the unit's common expenses;

• the board has not declared any increase in the unit's common expenses since the current year's budget; and

• the board has not levied any assessments against the unit since that budget to increase the reserve fund contribution.

Missing information

A certificate may omit material information that it is required to contain. If so, it is deemed to include a statement that there is no such information.

Who can rely on it

A status certificate binds the corporation as of the date it is given or deemed given. It does so on what it contains or is deemed to contain, as against a purchaser or mortgagee of the unit who relies on it.

Examining the agreements

A person who requested the certificate may ask, in writing and on reasonable notice, to examine the agreements listed in it. The corporation must allow this at a reasonable time and location.

Newly built condos

The Condominium Authority of Ontario notes that buyers of newly built condos find the information typically covered in a status certificate in the disclosure statement.

Reviewing the certificate

The Authority recommends that buyers review status certificates with their legal counsel and check its Condo Registry.

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Related: Home purchases | Land Transfer Tax Refunds for First-Time Buyers in Ontario | When a Builder Can't Prove It Delivered the Condo Buyers' Guide

This article is general information about Ontario law as of November 11, 2026. It is not legal advice.

Sources: Condominium Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, c. 19, s. 76 (https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/98c19#BK173); Condominium Authority of Ontario, Status Certificates (https://www.condoauthorityontario.ca/condo-living/corporate-records/status-certificates/); Condominium Authority of Ontario, Resale Condos (https://www.condoauthorityontario.ca/before-you-buy-or-rent-a-condo/buying-a-condo/resale-condos/). All checked November 11, 2026.

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