Documents to Review Before Buying a Condo in Saskatchewan

Buying a condo means buying a unit and also sharing a building, a budget and a set of rules with other owners. The paperwork you review before making an offer tells you a great deal about what you are actually taking on.

This article explains the main documents to ask for in Saskatchewan, what each one shows, and the warning signs worth raising with a lawyer before you commit.

This article covers the law of Saskatchewan.

The rules that frame a Saskatchewan condo

Saskatchewan condominiums are governed by The Condominium Property Act, 1993 and The Condominium Property Regulations, 2001. The corporation's bylaws sit under that framework. Bylaws can be amended by special resolution, so the rules you see today may change after you buy.

Which documents you receive depends on whether the unit is new or a resale. Each route is covered below.

Resale units: the estoppel certificate

For a resale unit, the buyer can request an estoppel certificate from the corporation. It covers the status of fee payments, contribution amounts, insurance, and any outstanding lawsuits or judgments against the corporation.

On an owner's application, the corporation must issue the certificate in the prescribed form, and it cannot later deny what it certified. The 2001 Regulations allow a fee of up to $200. Ask who pays that fee as part of your offer.

Read the certificate carefully once you have it. If it shows unpaid fees or a lawsuit, it is worth talking to a lawyer about how that affects your offer before you go further.

New units: what the developer must provide

For new condominiums, the developer must give the buyer a copy or description of the purchase agreement, bylaws, management agreement and condominium plan, among other documents. Read the management agreement closely, since it affects who runs the building and on what terms.

Documents to request and what to look for

The reserve fund is a corporation asset held in trust for statutory purposes and cannot be paid out to owners while the property remains under the Act. Its purposes include unforeseen common expenses and major repair or replacement of common property and building systems.

A reserve fund study must be done every five years by a qualified person, such as an engineer or Certified Reserve Planner. Condominiums with fewer than 12 units, and single-owner rental condominiums, are exempt from the reserve fund requirement.

You can also look at the title to the unit through ISC. Quick Search finds currently active titles by parcel number, title number, owner name or land description and lets you view a title image or request a certified print, but it does not show previous owners or interests that were removed. The advanced Search tool covers those. On a title, mortgages and liens appear as interests, a title lock is a prohibition on the title, and judgments are tracked separately in the Judgment Registry. If something on the title is unclear, ask a lawyer to explain what it means for your purchase.

Red flags

• No recent reserve fund study in a building that should have one.
• A reserve fund that looks small compared with the age and systems of the building.
• Lawsuits or judgments against the corporation shown on the estoppel certificate.
• Unpaid fees or contributions on the unit you are buying.
• Minutes that mention major repairs without a plan to pay for them.
• Bylaws that conflict with how you plan to use the unit, such as rules on pets or noise.

A single red flag is not always a deal-breaker, but it is worth asking questions about before you remove conditions from an offer.

What to do next

• Make your offer conditional on reviewing the condo documents.
• Request the estoppel certificate, bylaws, financial statements, minutes, reserve fund study and insurance details.
• Confirm who pays for the estoppel certificate.
• Look at the title to the unit for mortgages, liens and other interests.
• Read the bylaws against how you plan to use the unit.
• Have a lawyer review the documents before conditions are removed.

Budget for closing costs as well. In a standard Law Society offer-to-purchase template, each party pays their own lawyer, and the purchaser pays the Land Titles Registry fees to register the property in the purchaser's name and to register the purchaser's mortgage. Saskatchewan has no land transfer tax listed in CMHC's provincial fact sheet; instead there is a provincial fee to transfer property based on the property's value. The current rate is worth confirming before you finalize your budget.

Frequently asked questions