The Simple Investor: condo owners ask for an administrator

SIREG Management Inc. managed condominium units owned by third parties and was the licensed condominium manager for 43 buildings holding approximately 2,200 units. By October 13 it had sent a notice to the owner of each of those units. The suspension of its licence, the notice says, "does not restrict SIREG Management from managing your individual condominium unit," but the company "is unable to continue its normal operations or pursue a viable restructuring," and it "will therefore surrender its tenancy and transition the management of the unit to you as soon as possible" (Sched. "B"). Owners would receive lease and tenant information within days. The notice also warned of "instances where property management companies have been advising tenants that they have been appointed as replacement property manager without providing clear authority to do so and, in some cases, threatening to evict tenants if rent payments are not paid to the property manager." The proposal trustee, AlixPartners Restructuring, Inc., attached the notice's form to its October 13 aide memoire and says it was sent following consultation with the Condominium Management Regulatory Authority of Ontario and the trustee, per the Aide Memoire of the Proposal Trustee, Oct. 13, 2026, paras. 3, 6 and Sched. "B".

The boards of all the condominium corporations SIREG Management managed had "previously resigned en masse," the notice says, and it would email each owner the names and contact details of the other owners in their condominium, with the corporation's declaration, by-laws and rules, so that they could call meetings to elect new boards. The trustee has asked for those constating documents to see whether provisions "such as minimum notice requirements" may impede such meetings; if so, SIREG Management may seek urgent relief (paras. 4, 7 and Sched. "B").

The same aide memoire puts a date on the money. In consultation with the trustee, the 18 companies "have determined that there will be inadequate funding for operations or employment beyond on or around" October 16, "taking into account the need to reserve sufficient funding for the intended bankruptcies" (para. 9). The trustee said it would ask at the October 13 attendance for an urgent motion to be scheduled for Friday, October 16, at which the companies would seek relief "to enable the assignment of the NOI Applicants into bankruptcy" and, potentially, from any such by-law restrictions. "Among other things, the bankruptcies are intended to facilitate an orderly winddown, including Wage Earner Protection Program filings," per the Aide Memoire of the Proposal Trustee, Oct. 13, 2026, para. 1 n. 1, paras. 8–9. On October 7 the companies and the trustee had said they would, "optimistically," have no funds left to operate by the last week of October (Joint Aide Memoire, Oct. 7, 2026, para. 13); that filing and Firm Capital's motion to lift the stay were reported here on October 9.

Eight hundred and twenty-seven units

The October 13 attendance was set for the lift-stay motions of the first mortgagee, Firm Capital Mortgage Fund Inc., and a second mortgagee, Monarch Realty Fund LLC (Aide Memoire of the Proposal Trustee, Oct. 13, 2026, para. 1). There, according to the trustee, counsel for a group of unit owners proposed an administrator for the condominium corporations in which its clients own units, and the court scheduled a hearing for October 14 (Aide Memoire of the Proposal Trustee, Oct. 14, 2026, para. 6). The owners' lawyers, Levitt Di Lella Duggan & Chaplick LLP, then acted for the owners of approximately 827 units in 41 of the 43 corporations (Aide Memoire of the Unit Owners, Oct. 14, 2026, para. 3).

Their notice of motion asks that Brian Antman be appointed administrator under section 131 of the Condominium Act, 1998. "Individuals connected to SIREG Management constituted the respective boards of directors of the Affected Condo Corps," it says, and with those boards resigned en masse on or about September 17 and SIREG Management's licence suspended, "There is presently no person or group of people with any lawful authority to manage the affairs of any of the Affected Condo Corps" (Notice of Motion, Oct. 13, 2026, grounds 1–3). Given the Act's notice requirements, among them at least 15 days' notice, a meeting to elect new boards could likely not be held until early-to-mid-November, the owners say, while the filings had identified lapsed and expiring insurance policies, maintenance and repair issues, and "the threatened disconnection of utilities due to lack of payment." The owners add: "It is hard to conceive of clearer circumstances for the appointment of an administrator than those that are before the court in this matter," per the grounds 4–5, 7.

Mr. Antman is a retired chartered professional accountant, now vice-president, finance and accounting, of Ace Condominium Management Inc.; "In order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest," he swears, he would not appoint Ace as manager of any of the corporations (Affidavit of Brian Antman, Oct. 12, 2026, paras. 1, 10). The draft order would vest in him the powers of each board, including to set budgets, collect common expenses, maintain insurance, control bank accounts and carry out repairs, and would disband the existing boards. Within 90 days he would convene meetings to elect "shadow" boards with "no independent decision-making authority," to prepare each corporation for a return to self-governance (draft Order, Motion Record, Oct. 13, 2026, Tab 3, paras. 2–5, 8).

Thirteen objections, and a narrower draft order

After the October 13 hearing, "and largely in response to the communication sent to the unit owners in the Affected Condo Corps by SIREG Management on or about October 13, 2026," some owners told the firm they wished to end its retainer and others retained it, and by its aide memoire of October 14 its clients owned approximately 718 units across 39 of the corporations (Aide Memoire of the Unit Owners, Oct. 14, 2026, paras. 4–5). A supplementary aide memoire named 13 corporations where owners or their counsel intended to oppose. Because those owners "have not had an opportunity to prepare or submit responding materials," the group offered to proceed, if the court saw fit, only with corporations where it represents at least one owner and no other owner had indicated opposition (Supplementary Aide Memoire of the Unit Owners, Oct. 14, 2026, paras. 2–4).

The trustee reports that one counsel was concerned with the split, noting that a lack of objection might reflect some owners being unaware of the relief, and that some owners have indicated they prefer another route, some that they have already begun the process of having a board elected. Its own position is that "The Proposal Trustee does not endorse any particular means of addressing the lack of a condominium manager, so long as urgent near term issues are addressed adequately"; those identified to it are "expired or expiring insurance policies, the need to establish bank accounts for the purpose of receiving condominium fees, addressing urgent maintenance and repairs, addressing threatened disconnection of utilities and the need to elect new condominium corporation boards." Absent a timely alternative, it considers that the administrator should be appointed, "provided the Owner Group satisfies this Court that the statutory and common law requirements for such an appointment have been satisfied," per the Aide Memoire of the Proposal Trustee, Oct. 14, 2026, paras. 7–9.

The owners' fresh as amended factum, returnable October 15, refers to "the oral directions given by the Honourable Justice Steele at the hearing of this matter on October 14, 2026 to the effect that the return of this matter would focus only on the appointment of Antman to be the administrator for those Subject Condo Corps for which this relief has not been opposed to date." It also says that s. 131 requires at least 120 days to have passed since a corporation's turnover meeting, and that although those dates are not known "due to a lack of access to records," the court "can safely conclude" that each unopposed corporation save one held its turnover meeting more than 120 days ago (Fresh as Amended Factum of the Unit Owners, Oct. 14, 2026, p. 1, paras. 3, 10, 15).