Condo conversion and your accommodation

What changes

Individual units get sold, an association forms, and its declaration and house rules start governing the building. Those rules frequently include a pet policy written by people who have never heard of your accommodation.

What does not

The Fair Housing Act applies to the association exactly as it applied to the landlord, and an accommodation granted as part of your tenancy is part of the arrangement whoever buys the unit takes on. A new declaration cannot contract out of a federal statute.

Where the risk is

• Records. The conversion is the moment your file may not survive the handover. Send your documentation to the new owner or association as soon as you know.
• Tenant protections. Many jurisdictions give existing tenants rights on conversion, including notice periods and sometimes a right to purchase. Those apply regardless of the animal and are worth knowing about.
• A new board of neighbours, which is a different decision-making body from a management company and usually a less predictable one.

What to do now

Write to whoever is managing the conversion, attach the original request and the approval, and ask for written confirmation that the accommodation continues. Doing it before anyone objects is much easier than doing it after.