Part 28 published on 01/11/09
Court upholds definition of “family” contained in condominium declaration. Occupants had to be related.
In this townhouse condominium, some of the units (including the unit owned by Mr. & Mrs. Kilfoyl) were occupied by unrelated tenants. The condominium’s declaration stated that the units could be used only as “one family residences”. The declaration also included the following definition of “family”:
(A family is) a social unit consisting of parent[s] and their children, whether natural or adopted and includes other relatives if living with the primary group.
The Court held that these provisions required that tenants be related as set out in the definition contained in the declaration. The Court said that this did not contravene Ontario’s Human Rights Code, specifically the requirement to avoid discrimination on the basis of family status.
[Editorial Notes:
1. The decision is under appeal.
2. The condominium’s declaration and by-laws also prohibited “roomers or boarders”. However, the Court’s decision was based principally on the definition of family contained in the declaration. Because of that definition, the Court said that “multiple unrelated tenants” constituted a breach of the declaration and by-laws. Until this case, I had always understood that families can come in all sorts of forms, including groups of unrelated persons, provided they live together “as a family”.]