When a condo corporation is brand new, what does the first status certificate show?

When a condominium corporation is newly registered and has only recently turned over to owner control, the first status certificates issued reflect the initial state of the corporation. Common expenses will be set at the levels established by the developer's initial budget. The reserve fund will show contributions made since the corporation's registration, which at the earliest stage will be modest.

One important consideration for newly registered corporations is that the initial common expense budget set by the developer may be optimistic — sometimes intentionally set lower to make the project attractive — and may require increases once owners take control and commission their own independent reserve fund study. Purchasers in the first year or two after registration sometimes experience fee increases as the corporation is brought into compliance with realistic reserve fund targets.

The status certificate for a brand-new corporation will also not yet have audited financial statements (as those take time to prepare), active litigation (typically), or established reserve fund history. This makes it harder to assess the corporation's financial trajectory at the earliest stage.