A condominium corporation runs on three layered documents: the declaration, registered on title as the corporation's constitution; by-laws, which set its internal governance; and rules, which govern day-to-day behaviour — and a rule that conflicts with the declaration, the by-laws or the Condominium Act simply does not stand.
The CAO's plain description of amendment routes shows how differently the three are treated. A declaration change "needs written consent from 80 to 90 per cent of owners, depending on the change". A by-law change moves through the board first — directors "agree to pass, change or repeal by resolution at a board meeting" — then to owners, where "most changes need majority approval", and "approved changes are registered with the Land Registry Office".
Rules run on a lighter, faster track and a different legal test. The CAO's rules page states the standard directly: "Rules must be reasonable and meet the criteria of section 58 of the Condo Act", meaning they must "promote the safety and welfare of owners and their property and must prevent unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of the units and common elements". A board can adopt or amend a rule itself, but owners must be notified of the change, its effective date, and their right to requisition a meeting, and "rules are automatically adopted after 30 days of this notice being delivered, unless owners requisition an owners' meeting" and vote it down. Unlike the other two documents, "rules do not need to be registered at the Land Registry Office".
That speed comes with a ceiling: the same page makes clear a rule must be consistent with the Condo Act and the governing documents. A status certificate discloses all three documents together, so a buyer sees the current declaration, by-laws and rules in one package — see the status certificate package.
A condo board wants to ban short-term rentals under 30 days. It doesn't do this the way it would tweak a parking rule, because the ban restricts how a unit may be used. It runs the change as a rule under the section 58 process: notice to owners stating the proposed rule and effective date, then a 30-day window in which the rule is adopted automatically unless enough owners requisition a meeting and vote it down. If the board wants the ban to survive even a future rules vote, it has to go into the declaration instead — which needs 80 to 90 percent owner consent, not a board resolution.
See also: Common element vs exclusive-use common element · The status certificate package.
A 30-minute call is enough to tell you whether AI pays for itself here.
