Definition : Common portions for restricted use - Maintenance

The law does not establish an exhaustive list of the duties and obligations that the members of the board of directors must assume. It is the declaration of co-ownership (constituting act of the co-ownership) and certain articles of the Civil Code of Québec which, for the most part, determine them. Furthermore, the administrators are considered to be agents of the syndicate. Directors must therefore act within the limits of the powers conferred on them by law and by the declaration of co-ownership. As such, they are required to act with care, diligence, honesty, loyalty, efficiency, fairness, and in the interest of the union.    

  The windows of our unit are at the end of their lives, according to a specialist who changed the thermos of a window that don't 2 windows have already cracked. Despite my express request to the syndicate to change our windows, he prefers to wait a few years to change all the windows. We have been losing the enjoyment of one of our main windows for 2 years. Its opening is a danger, because it is too heavy, weighs on the closing mechanism, and I am afraid that it falls from the 4th floor, or that the thermos breaks again. Question:  What do you think are our remedies?

L’obligation du Syndicat d’entretenir les parties communes, plus particulièrement les parties communes à usage restreint, a fait couler beaucoup d’encre depuis la réforme de 1994. Souvent, les administrateurs se font tirer l’oreille lorsque des copropriétaires réclament l’exécution de certains travaux majeurs, soit un balcon sérieusement endommagé ou, comme c’était le cas dans l’affaire MARCHAND, pour une verrière qui est la source constante d’infiltration d’eau(1).  

Most often than not declarations of co-ownership (Constituting Act of co-ownership) designate the legal status of exterior parking spaces as common portions for restricted use. This is also true for indoor parkings, when the developer (declarant) decides that it is not necessary to create a specific lot number for each space. These are therefore an integral part of the lot constituting the common portions of the immovable.  

A co-owner has carried out by himself work on his terrace (common portion for restricted use). Since then, the roof leaks. Question : Who must pay to repair the damage?

As in common portions, work can be carried out in common portions for restricted use, such as building a terrace upon which a co-owner would have exclusive use or transforming a balcony into an additional room attached to an apartment. If such cases, the co-owners must keep in mind that article 1063 of the Civil Code of Québec governs the use they can make of the common portions for restricted use. This article stipulates that: "Each co-owner has the disposal of his fraction; he has free use and enjoyment of his private portion and the common portions, provided he complies with the by-laws of the immovable and does not impair the rights of the other co-owners or the destination of the immovable. "