User:Condo Owners Association/sandbox

Linda Pinizzotto (born Toronto June 18) is the founding president CEO of the Condo Owners Association (COA Ontario); a non profit profit association she registered in March 2010. Pinizzotto had fallen victim to a manipulating and controlling Board of Director in a condominium she owned. She was threatened with lawsuits and subjected to unreasonable harassment over a period of 8 years while also representing the adjoining sister building where she was the President of the Board of Directors. Linda discovered that the Provincial Condo Act which was supposed to represent and advocate for Condo Owners Rights had some loopholes. The object of her Association is to raise public awareness, advocate and represent Condo Owners in political government moving forward to promote necessary changes to the Provincial Condo Act 1998 to better protect condo owners. The fact that a Board Member could ignore your human rights and cause havoc through the building without any repercussion made Linda angry. She worked for years to help make the Condo Owners Association a household name by personally visiting with several MPP’s Ministers of the Provincial Government and local Councillors in various cities. Linda was hitting the mark when she received a call from the Minister of Consumer Services to inform her that the McGuinty government has agreed to open the Condo Act for full review process. Linda has appeared on major radio shows CTV, CBC, Metro Morning, CP24 and developed her own Radio Show called the Condo Xpert so she could educate condo owners and all consumers about condominium operations. She has spoken as a Guest Speaker at Queen’s Park Legislative Building on the platform with local MPP, the Toronto Condo Show, National Home Show and on Rogers TV Dale Goldhawk Show. Linda expresses support and enthusiasm for strong government initiative to promote tough new legislation. Her quote can be seen on the Provincial Website under Building a Better Condo Act. Linda has open the door to welcome condo home inspections and speaking at a forum to educate Realtors and other professional and business groups about Condominiums and the need for the Condo Owners Association. Linda Pinizzotto is the recipient of several awards relating to volunteerism. She is the Government Relations Chair for the Mississauga Real Estate Board from 2009 to present, the Government Relations sub Committee for the Toronto Real Estate Board and works directly with the Municipal, Provincial and Federal Levels of government. This involvement helped her to spread awareness of the problems relating to lack of governance and transparency with Condominiums and Board of Directors. Linda continues to be a Condo Board President and has spent countless hours keeping up-to-date on the latest news in condominium communities.

COA Mission "To represent and provide leadership to Condominium Owners with a united voice advocating and fostering quality lifestyle, prosperous and sustainable condo ownership.

COA supports : •	Helping Condo Owners who are victim to Boards of Directors in non compliance to the Condo Act •	Providing a series of seminars and education for Condo Board of Directors and Condo Owners •	Condo Act cannot be self regulated •	Require a standardized declaration in various languages •	Condo Act must have strict policy and accountability with consequences for non compliant Boards, Owners, Managers, Lawyers and Builders •	Property Management Firm and Property Managers need provincial licensing •	Condo Office, Condo Act Review Board or Condo Ombudsman for dispute resolution is needed •	Endorse a Provincial Reserve Fund Bond for better rates of return for Corporations •	Create third party holder for proxies to prevent forgery •	Advocate Government for better New Home Warranty Protection Act and Tarion Warranty •	Develop better insurance policy protection and awareness campaign for Condo Owners

[edit] Condo Act Review Process to build a Better Condo Act Pinizzotto representing the Condo Owners Association in the Condo Act Review Process identifies that Session 1 is complete and COA has moved on to Session 2 working on Consumer Protection. Pinizzotto stated that COA “was created to advocate and represent Condo Owners. All of our suggestions, presentations and materials are geared for their 100% protection. We would like to see a team effort from all groups at the Review so we can accomplish our goal to create better legislation for Condo Owners. [edit] History

Linda Pinizzotto (born Toronto June 18) is the founding president CEO of the Condo Owners Association (COA Ontario); a non profit association she registered in March 2010. Pinizzotto had fallen victim to a manipulating and controlling Board of Director in a condominium she owned. She was threatened with lawsuits and subjected to unreasonable harassment over a period of 8 years while also representing the adjoining sister building where she was the President of the Board of Directors. Linda discovered that the Provincial Condo Act which was supposed to represent and advocate for Condo Owners Rights had major loopholes. A series of videos were prepared by Linda and Volunteers of COA to receive more publicity for the group, which is growing rapidly. The present Condominium Act 1998 came into force on May 5, 2001. The Ministry Staff identified 6 different types of condominiums which would be covered under the Act. The Ministry of Housing is a provincial jurisdiction so each Condo Act is different from Province to Province across Canada. There are over 1.3 million condo owners in Ontario; not including new construction which now accounts for over ½ of new development. The issues identified in the Condo Act Review process confirm concerns dealing with lack of transparency and governance by Board of Directors, proxy forgery and manipulation on voting process, improper decisions relating to financials and reserve funds and no affective dispute resolution process for Owners and Board Members. Provincial licensing through the Ministry for Property Management Firms and Property Managers will help. Different regulation for reserve funds is required as well recognition of the amount of condo buildings having limited reserve funds.

In January 2013 Linda launched her Radio Show called the Condo Xpert to create awareness and address concerns. She invites a series of notable guests and also explains all aspects of condominiums. The call-in network will be launching shortly so Linda can take live calls and provide answers to Condo Owners calling in to the show. Negotiations are underway to invite Corporate sponsors so COA can provide discounts and savings for products and services. Many condo buildings have seen high increases on maintenance fees, COA discounts will off set these high fees by helping Owners to save money on other things. The Condo Owners Association is designed with Ontario at the helm and each City within the Province is defined as a Division of COA. Committee volunteers assist COA in the various Divisions but all political relations, sponsor activity and general administration of COA operates through COA Ontario. Change in legislature and staying on top of future changes with respect to the Condo Act and other Acts directly affecting Condo Owners can only come from a Provincial group ie. COA Ontario to make the difference needed. Linda’s vision is to make sure that Condo Owners across the Province will always have representation and an Association they can turn to. The long term plan is to embrace a Condo Owners Association Nationally because every Province in Canada has a Condo Act and they all have either just had a review/revision or they are in the midst of the same.