Condominium corporations routinely hire contractors to perform
work on the common elements of their respective buildings. Most of
the time, the contractors are paid for their work, and owners are
not impacted in any way. However, what happens if the contractors
are not paid, and a dispute arises between the parties regarding
the work that was performed? I would safely assume that most
condominium owners in Ontario are unaware of the fact that a
contractor has the legal right under the Construction Lien
Act to register a lien that will show up on title to every
unit in the building.
In other words, if a contractor has a $15,000 dispute with a
condominium corporation that has 100 units, and the contractor
decides to register a construction lien, the lien will be
registered against title to all 100 units. If any of the 100 unit
owners want to sell their unit(s), they will need to take steps to
the have the lien vacated or discharged before closing. This can be
a
