Section 01
What belongs in a complete package
The registered condominium plan and the current title to the unit, showing unit boundaries, unit factors and anything registered against the unit. The bylaws as currently registered, together with any amendments, because bylaws govern use, alterations, occupancy, pets, rentals and the allocation of responsibility between owner and corporation.
Board and general meeting minutes for a meaningful period, the corporation's financial statements and budget, the reserve fund study and the reserve fund plan, the insurance summary including the standard insurable unit description and deductible arrangements, records of special levies past and contemplated, documentation of parking and storage rights, and the estoppel or information certificate stating the unit's current standing with the corporation.
Where the building is recent, add the warranty documentation for both the unit and the common property, and any deficiency or remediation records the corporation holds.
An incomplete package is a finding. Note what was requested, what arrived and what did not.
Section 02
Reading minutes as the corporation's real narrative
Financial statements tell you the position; minutes tell you the story that produced it. Read them for recurring building issues, deferred work, disputes, enforcement patterns, insurance discussions and the tone of decision-making. A single mention of a building envelope investigation is worth more attention than any brochure.
Read forward as well as backward. Work discussed but not yet funded, studies commissioned but not yet reported, and claims not yet resolved are the items most likely to become an owner's cost after possession.
Section 03
Reserve fund study, plan and levies
The reserve fund study describes the corporation's major components, their expected remaining life and the funding required to replace them. The reserve fund plan is the corporation's stated approach to funding that requirement. Reading the two together, against the actual balance and contribution level, indicates whether the corporation is funding its future or postponing it.
Special levies are neither unusual nor automatically alarming; what matters is why one was raised, whether it addressed the underlying cause, and whether the pattern suggests recurring underfunding. In a building with substantial amenity, envelope complexity or underground structure, the components are expensive and the study should be recent.
Section 04
Insurance, the standard insurable unit and deductibles
The corporation's policy insures the property described by its bylaws and its standard insurable unit description, which sets the line between what the corporation insures and what the owner must insure. Upgrades and improvements beyond that description are ordinarily the owner's responsibility to insure, and that gap is larger in a high-specification unit than in a standard one.
Deductible arrangements matter as much as coverage. Where a loss originates in a unit, an owner can face responsibility for a deductible amount that requires its own insurance. Read the summary, then have your own broker confirm what your policy must cover, and your lawyer confirm what the bylaws allocate to you.
Section 05
Parking, storage and exclusive-use areas
Parking and storage may be separately titled units, assigned by the corporation, leased, or granted as exclusive use of common property. Each arrangement transfers differently and carries different security. Confirm the arrangement against the plan, the bylaws and the title rather than against how the current owner describes the practice.
Terraces, balconies, roof areas and yards attached to a unit are frequently exclusive-use common property rather than part of the unit. That affects who maintains them, who insures them, what may be altered and who bears the cost when a repair reaches structure or membrane below.
Section 06
Getting the package reviewed, and the boundary of this guide
Set the review window when the conditions are drafted, not after the package arrives, and give your lawyer enough time to read it properly. A written summary from that review — governance and bylaw restrictions, financial position, reserve adequacy, insurance allocation, unit rights and outstanding matters — is the document to negotiate from.
This guide is informational only. It does not interpret any corporation's bylaws, does not advise on the effect of any minute, resolution or levy, and does not constitute legal advice. Alberta condominium law and the province's own condominium information for buyers are the starting points; your lawyer applies them to the package in front of you.
Provincial guidance for purchasers is published with the Government of Alberta's condominium information and is the current landing point for its purchasing publications.