Definition : Fault - Disregard for the rights

The board of directors represents the co-ownership and manages it. He acts in the name and on behalf of the syndicate, he collects the common expenses (condo fees), he concludes the contracts for the maintenance and conservation of the building. 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 certains articles of the Civil Code of Québec which, for the most part, determine them. Furthermore, directors are considered to be the mandatary 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 syndicate.

At a meeting of the board of directors, directors must not make any decision that is biased, or with the intention of harming the co-owners (or any of them) or disregarding their rights. In case of defect, the co-owners (or a director) can now take legal proceedings to oppose decisions taken by the ​Board of directors. Article 1086.2 of the Civil Code of Quebec, which came into force on January 10, 2020, allows the court to set aside or, exceptionally, to correct a decision of the board of directors. The proceedings must be initiated within 90 days of the decision of the board of directors. In order to promote stability of the Board’s decisions, the legislator allows to bring such recourses only in certain circumstances.

  Irregularities noted at a meeting of co-owners do not make the decisions taken non-existent, but voidable. Consequently, the co-owner who intends to invoke the irregularity of a decision must initiate a legal proceeding, in accordance with article 1103 of the Civil Code of Quebec. Wishing to promote the stability of the decisions taken by the assembly, the legislature allows such a remedy to be brought only in certain circumstances. Thus, any co-owner may ask the court to annul or, exceptionally, modify a decision of the meeting of co-owners if it is partial, if it was taken with the intention of harming the co-owners or in disregard of their rights, or if an error occurred in the calculation of votes.