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“If it’s anything beyond new lighting fixtures or a coat of paint, you’re going to need approval,” says Linda Pinizzotto of condo renovations. She’s been a real estate agent in Toronto for 42 years and is the founder and president of the Condo Owners Association. She explains that, yes, you own your unit, but you also live within a common structure that must be protected.
“If you’re an owner and you’re in a 300-unit building, you need to remember that you own 1/300th of that building and are part of a community,” says Pinizzotto. “You can make changes, but you have to follow a set of rules that protect the structural integrity and resale value of the entire building.”
So exactly how much can a condo owner do to upgradetheir unit? You might think that anything within the suite would be fair game, but unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
For general renovation rules, owners should consult their condo declaration, a legal document governing each specific condo corporation’s operations. Though declarations need to be in compliance with the provincial Condo Act, each condo creates its own declaration, so owners should take a close look at the document before jumping into a major reno plan.
While the owner of a detached house must apply to the city to get a permit for major renovations, condo owners must instead apply for approval to their condo corporation. The condo owner must fill out a series of forms detailing the design and plan for the renovation, along with the licence and insurance of the contractor who will complete the work. If the proposal involves plumbing, electrical or structural changes, the management corporation may also request a city permit.
“Only after all of these steps are complete do we have the green light to begin the renovation,” says Mark Dayter, CEO of Toronto-based Moose Condo Reno. He says that because the condo approval process can be so stringent, planning and specificity are the keys to getting a project rubber-stamped.
“The layout and design should be as detailed as possible, down to which glue will be used,” says Dayter.
Though each condo is different, there are general guidelines that most boards follow. One is that the renovation should stay within the envelope of the unit. This means that any common areas like corridors and lobbies are off the table, including the front door and exterior spaces like balconies.
“Your balcony is not yours – it’s owned by the condo corporation,” says Pinizzotto. She recalls an owner who painted his unit’s exterior bright red, and then had to foot the bill for an industrial power washer to remove it.
The envelope also includes the concrete exterior walls of the unit as well as the concrete ceiling and floor, commonly known as the slab.
“You’re generally not allowed to punch into the slab or run wires through it,” says Dayter. For owners who want features embedded in the ceiling like pot lighting, a shallow drop ceiling made of drywall is a common solution.
Another factor that can limit a renovation is the path of water into and out of the unit.
“I had a woman in a high-rise telling me she wanted to move the toilet,” Pinizzotto says. “I was shocked. Where did she think the water would go?”
While moving a kitchen, bathroom or laundry room is not impossible, it will be dramatically more expensive than working around existing plumbing, and will require city permits and the approval of an engineer.
Dayter says bathroom and kitchen renovations, new flooring, painting and drop ceilings are the most-requested condo renovations. These are all fairly straightforward projects, but it doesn’t mean major renovations are impossible.
“We had one owner with two units, one on top of the other, and they wanted to connect them,” Dayter says. He brought in a scanning company to X-ray the slab, revealing the locations of important structural points and rebar. Dayter pinpointed a space that could be removed without disturbing the slab’s integrity — right in the middle of the main living area — and then punched through the slab and built a staircase.
Whatever the job, both Dayter and Pinizzotto warn that hiring the right contractor is key.
“You can’t just go and hire Joe Blow because he doesn’t charge HST,” says Pinizzotto. “If you’re on the tenth floor and your bathroom reno is leaking all the way down to the fifth floor, they’re going to figure out where it came from.”
Pinizzotto says one safe bet can be hiring the contractor, plumber or electrician that the condo corporation uses for the building’s common elements.
“The board needs to approve the person you’re hiring, and that’s someone you know they’re going to trust,” says Pinizzotto.