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Condo Building Lock Change Practices - is your condo board using the best practices? What are the best practices for lock changes?

  • wecare994
  • Aug 2, 2024
  • 5 min read

Every couple of years a building needs to change their locks for many reasons but the most obvious one is that if your building has a a lot of renters its just good practice to change the locks periodically to ensure there are no unwanted visitors. So what is the best way to change the locks in a building with hundreds of people and services and all the people who need to gain entry to the building? The easiest answer is as humanly as possible taking people and human beings into consideration. That's sounds pretty simple doesn't it? If your board and property manager sit down and consider all the possibilities of who needs to enter the building and when and make sure that all scenarios are covered then it really should be an easy process. Lock changes are all about planning and consideration for the owners of the building.


Before we start talking about the best possible scenarios lets talk about what not to do! What you should never do is only communicate through one medium, like only sending emails to owners advising them of a lock change and then changing the locks the next day. It's also very bad practice to only give a small window for owners to pick up keys and anything else they require. I think we can all agree that when a building is changing the locks the biggest consideration should be to make sure owners are not locked out of their building. The first thought for any board should be how can we mitigate and plan to ensure that people are not locked out of the building and put in a situation where they could be harmed. It is the responsibility of the board of directors of a condo corporation to "do no harm" and should make up part of their code of ethics. Before a condo board makes any decision or takes any action they need to consider the harm that could be caused by this action. If you govern and run the condo board using ethical principals you will be able to sleep well at night!


Can you imagine if you lived in a condo and were away on a long vacation and didn't check your email or maybe you did check your email but it doesn't matter because you are out of the country and can't make it to pick up the locks because the board gave a small inconvenient time that suited them and very few in the building? You came home from vacation during a long weekend and are locked out of your home with no where to go in the middle of the night or early morning? It's a horror show! The scenarios are endless, we live in Alberta where it's very common for so many people to work away and in camps so you can't make the one day to pick up your new keys? You come home early in the morning and your key doesn't work in the lock? The worst scenario is someone who didn't receive the emails for whatever reason, goes to spam, busy haven't had time to check emails, sick or in the hospital and you leave your home in the early morning or come in late at night and you can't get back into your home because your condo board didn't consider that there are human beings with all different types of lives and schedules and they weren't aware of the lock change. One of the worst scenarios is a women who may be being harassed or followed by someone and they can't easily gain access to their building because the board changed the locks without any consideration to their owners. Lock changes without consideration create more problems because people who don't have access will start propping open the doors because they can't get access to the building and now we have security issues and an open invitation for anyone to enter the building. This is why we created this company to help people who have very little organizational skills or understanding of their roles. If you had called us first we would have helped make sure none of these scenarios ever occur.


The "Do no harm" principal is derived from John Stuart Mill -

 ‘The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of their number, is self-protection…the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others’. On Liberty (1974), pp. 68-69, Penguin Books.

There are so many scenarios that a condo board can practice when changing locks. Let's look at the basic principals. First, you never want anyone to be locked out of the building so you need to make sure you use more than one medium to notify owners, emails are not enough to provide to owners of lock changes, emails are not reliable enough to ensure that owners have actually received the notice. Actual physical signs should be used at all doors to remind owners of the lock changes. In fact the days of property managers sitting all day waiting for owners to show up are generally over. Most new systems are online so access to new systems can be downloaded and links sent to owners or scan codes included on the physical signs so owners can download the information, there is no need to have owners personally show up for lock changes in this day and age. If you need to switch out physical keys throw them under the doors, put them in the mail boxes or stagger the times for pick up over weeks or months so everyone has a chance to pick up the keys. Staggering the physical lock changes over months is also a good way to ensure that owners aren't locked out but it reminds them that ok this is the door I use and the lock will be changed next week so I better figure out how to get my new locks soon! Owners need to have time to get used to the new system and the board should want to ensure that people are familiar with the new lock system so they aren't locked out so staggering the locks or system between doors would ensure that owners are not put in a compromising situation.


Its takes thought and consideration and the ethical principals of "do no harm" should be considered for all board decisions. How can we complete our task and make changes without harming any owners in the process should be the first priority of any condo board of directors! We would love to hear your stories or ideas on lock changes let us know and of course contact us if you are a board and need help with lock changes in your building.


Its Friday today so remember smile at your neighbor in the elevator tell them to have a great day and happy condo living!





 
 
 

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Meetings and Events

Condo Buildings have many different types of meetings -AGMs, Special Meetings and  Extraordinary Meetings, Owners Meetings -    See below on tips for making your meeting inclusive and productive 

​Annual General Meetings are crucial to democracy, a condominium corporation in Alberta is required to have annual general meetings every year and at the latest 15 months from the last AGM. These are formal meetings where owners vote on all types of business such as new bylaws, bylaw changes, financial considerations, improvements, upgrades and elect a new board of directors. There are certain procedural rules boards must follow when organizing an AGM; notice must be provided 60 days prior to the AGM, this gives owners the ability to submit agenda items to the board. After the 60 days, formal notice with the agenda items must be sent to owners within 30-14 days prior to the meeting date. Make sure you are voting at your AGMs, you need to make sure the votes are counted - make sure your board is either holding elections through ballots or a counted hand vote. 

There are several types of other meetings a condo corporation holds - Special Meetings, Owners Meetings or Town Halls. It all depends on who is doing the organizing and the topics being put forward. Condo Owners should ensure that their meetings have at least the basic requirements for example: With the exception of Owners Meetings which are called by the owners and not formal, all meetings should include, if possible: scrutineers, agenda- ability of owners to add to agenda, accurate and properly recorded minutes, elections, voting - owners should be voting on issues at AGMs to name a few. There are many requirements to hold a duly organized meeting. For example, public companies and other corporations hire several entities when they hold AGMs. Most corporations start by hiring a law firm. a company to scrutineer and often depending on the type of meeting a solicitation agent. Unfortunately, and of course because it's impractical for the majority of Condo Corporations to assume the expense of all or even a few of those entities most Condo Corporations rely on the knowledge of the property manager and an inexperienced board to deal with meetings which affects the quality of the meetings.

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​The quality of condo meetings depend on the quality of the property manager and the knowledge of your board of directors. Most condo meetings are pretty poor which leads to very little advancement and improvements in the corporation. If your condo corporation holds proper meetings then thank goodness and let us know! We want to hear about condos that are working well together creating successful condo communities. If not then well we all know when buildings incur this type of combination of a poor manager and a poor board for too long the building starts to deteriorate very quickly. Most building come equipped with basic bylaws created by the developer included in the owners manual, some specs and basic information and little else so if you were unlucky to buy into a property with owners who knew very little about condo boards you are probably facing some difficulties after a number of years.  Call us anytime and we will audit your meetings, elections or if you assist in coordinating any type of meeting. See our simple suggestions for make your meetings even more successful. 

condo meeting

Everyone is happier with a cookie in their hand

condo meeting - AGM

                                 Make people feel welcome!         

                           

Meetings are stressful even if there are no hot topics so anything you can do to lighten the mood is helpful. You could also have a giveaway or a play a little game before you get started. Don't forget name tags for large gatherings, bring a card or provide contact information and don't forget a pen, notepad or your phone to take notes and exchange information.  

If you organized the meeting: don't forget to shake as many peoples hands and introduce yourself to as many people as you can!

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Hint: If you are organizing the meeting you should be the last to leave! This helps make sure you talk to everyone who came to talk to you!

                                             Its ALL in the Details

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We believe details are important! Set up a station with coffee, juice or water to keep people hydrated and bring along some home baked or store bought treats. Owners will feel welcome and it helps to set the tone of a meeting. Who can argue with a piece of cake in their hand or mouth! Meetings should be informative and engaging and setting the tone will make your meetings more successful.

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Hint: You'll often be able to tell the people who support you or at least like you if they take a cookie or drink some coffee. More combative individuals won't take the cookie because they feel like they would owe you something back and sometimes that's just being nice and respectful.

CONTACT US Before you buy a condo 

Working as a Trustee in the corporate debt space for over a decade has helped me build a foundation in Corporate and Securities Law. As a a Manager of Corporate Trust acting as debt Trustee, collateral agent or escrow agent, I was involved in many types of large international transaction and the biggest bought deal in Canadian history. As a trustee we were involved in, attended and scrutineered all types of meetings, extraordinary resolutions and consent solicitations. As Corporate Secretary for a large public company, I have over a decade of experience in many aspects of Corporate Law.  I worked for  several years in compliance for a capital raising investment company and worked in the prosecution department at IIROC. My degree in political science gives me a heightened sense of justice and expertise in all levels of government, democratic institutions and democratic practices.  I started this company to help other condo owners who were having similar experiences with condo boards. My corporate law and securities experience provides a great backdrop to be able to help create inclusive communities one building at a time, fighting one board at a time to bring back democracy and inclusion to Condo boards. People don't need to be fighting boards -it ruins their piece of mind and stunts community growth. Boards of Directors need to be held accountable for bad decisions and bad operating procedures and educated in best practices. 

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CONTACT
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Email: wecare@momentumcondo.com
Phone: 403.651.7403
 

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Calgary, Alberta T2R 1R8

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