Governance & Board Conduct
Community Situation Board & Property-Manager Conduct / GovernanceWhen the Board's Dysfunction Is Aimed at Its Own Directors
An absentee-landlord voting bloc allegedly controlled the board and, in one member's account, intimidated the minority of directors who actually lived in the building, while ignoring the reserve fund study.
- Pattern
- Board majority described as absentee landlords
- Allegation
- Resident directors intimidated by absentee majority
- Rules concern
- Reserve fund study and other rules reportedly disregarded
- Financial issue
- Some directors reportedly owe money to the corporation
An anonymous member, describing themselves as connected to a minority of directors, said a majority of directors were absentee landlords who, in their account, had obtained their seats improperly and were now intimidating the resident directors who actually lived in the building.
The poster said this board majority was disregarding the reserve fund study and other rules, and that some of the same directors personally owed money to the corporation without visible consequence. This is a different pattern from a typical owner-versus-board dispute: it describes problems inside the board itself, driven by directors who are absentee investor-landlords rather than by owners outside the board.
Documents an owner in this situation should gather
- Board meeting minutes showing attendance, voting patterns and any recorded conflict-of-interest disclosures
- The reserve fund study, and any board record showing whether or how it was considered
- Any record of amounts owed to the corporation by a sitting director
Questions to ask management or the board
- 1What accountability mechanism applies when a director owes money to their own corporation and continues to sit on the board?
- 2What conflict-of-interest disclosure is a director required to make before voting on a matter that affects them financially?
- 3What options exist for a minority of directors, or owners generally, when a voting bloc controls board outcomes?
Facing something like this?
Read the plain-language guide on this kind of situation, or run your own documents through the Free Notice Decoder.
Read the full guides
Curated and maintained by Alexander Baraz, Condo Owner Advocate.
This is a Community Situation: a real situation shared publicly by a condo owner, most often in an Ontario Facebook community group. It is an illustrative community case. It is not a Condo Owner Advocate client, not COA casework, not a testimonial, and not legal advice.