Co-operative Law

Court reinforces its hands-off approach to housing co-ops

August 1st, 2012 by Celia Chandler

This spring, one of our housing co‑op clients was served with a Superior Court application from a member under section 178 of the Co‑operative Corporations Act.   The application requested an order of compliance against the Co‑operative for five alleged breaches of the Co‑operative’s by‑laws and the Act.

This was uncharted territory for our client, and indeed for us.  Section 178 has been on the books for years, but has received minimal attention.

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New rules give community based power projects priority access to feed-in-tariffs

July 13th, 2012 by Iler Campbell LLP

On July 11, 2012 the Minister of Energy issued a Directive to the Ontario Power Authority to allow greater access to feed‑in‑tariff (FIT) contracts for community based power projects.  The new rules will keep private sector projects in-check by ensuring 50 percent community based equity.

The Directive provides for priority to applications with a greater than 50 percent community equity interest held by a co‑operative where at least 50 or more members are local property owners, or where there is greater than 50 percent Aboriginal equity participation.  The OPA will offer contracts to these projects before offering contracts to other projects in the application window.

The OPA is also directed to amend the Community Energy Partnership Program eligibility requirements to align with the eligibility requirements for community projects under the FIT Rules.  The OPA shall allocate up to $1 million annually for education funding and capacity building.

The changes are great news for community power projects.  Iler Campbell LLP represents and advises organizations on a variety of community power projects.  For more information on this topic please contact us!

Iler Campbell celebrates the International Year of Co‑operatives!

June 5th, 2012 by Iler Campbell LLP

With some 300 co‑ops on our client list, every year at Iler Campbell is a year of co‑operatives. However, the UN’s designation of 2012 as the International Year of Co‑operatives makes this year special. To mark this occasion, we stepping up our efforts to know and serve the housing co‑op sector in particular.

And in fact, we’re stepping out!

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A Question of Fairness: Recent Court Decisions on Evictions by Non-profit Housing Co-operatives

May 29th, 2012 by Shelina Ali

Housing co‑operatives occasionally have to face the unpleasant task of evicting one of their members, usually for arrears, but often for serious behavioural problems.  These evictions can be based on committing a crime on the property, or “lesser” behavioural problems, such as frequent loud parties or errant, but frightening, dogs which are a safety risk. The co‑operative board can make a decision to evict the member, but if the member does not voluntarily leave, then the co‑op must make an application to the Superior Court to have the court order an eviction.

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Privacy Law and Co-operative Evictions: what can be disclosed to the membership on appeal?

November 4th, 2011 by Iler Campbell LLP

Housing co‑operatives sometimes find themselves in the unfortunate position of having to terminate the membership and occupancy rights of members – that is to evict members from their units and regain possession of the unit.  This can be for any number of breaches of the bylaws, but most commonly it is for failure to pay housing charges, or because of arrears.

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