Jeffers v. York Condominium Corporation No. 98 (Ontario Superior Court of Justice)

The owner, Jeffers, claimed that the condominium corporation had slandered the owner’s title by registering a false lien. The owner also claimed that the condominium corporation was responsible for property damage suffered by the owner. Both claims were dismissed.  

The Court held that the corporation’s lien was valid and proper. Payments alleged to have been made by the owner (but not recorded by the condominium corporation) were found, by the Court, not to have been made. The Court also made note of the corporation’s policy not to accept cash payments.  As a result, the Court found that cash payments alleged by the owner were not made.  

As far as concerned the property damage claims, the Court’s reasoning included the following:  

• In the absence of negligence or breach of the Condo Corporation’s statutory duty to maintain the common elements resulting in damage, the Condo Corporation is not responsible for damage to an owner’s property.  There is no strict liability on the Condo Corporation and it is not an insurer.
• To the extent that any property damage was caused between the date of the plaintiffs’ prohibiting the condo corporation from sending in contractors to investigate and rectify the pipe and the withdrawal of the prohibition, the plaintiffs are the authors of that damage.  There is no evidence of property damage in any case.