Running a condo board meeting sounds straightforward until someone questions whether you actually had enough owners present to vote, or whether a proxy form was filled out correctly, or whether the resolution passed actually needed 75% support rather than a simple majority. These are not edge cases. They come up regularly, and getting them wrong can invalidate decisions that took months to reach.
Alberta’s Condominium Property Act lays out the framework for how condo corporations hold votes and make decisions. Your corporation’s bylaws sit on top of that framework and may add further requirements. Here is what every condo board member in Alberta should understand about the rules.
A meeting cannot conduct binding business unless quorum is established first. Quorum is the minimum number of eligible voters who must be present, either in person or represented by proxy, before a meeting can legally proceed.
Under the Appendix Bylaws included in the Act, the default quorum threshold is 25% of owners entitled to vote. If your corporation has 40 units, at least 10 eligible owners (or their proxies) need to be present or accounted for before voting can begin. Many corporations keep this default in place; others have amended their bylaws to set a different threshold, which they are permitted to do.
What happens when quorum is not met? If quorum is not reached within 30 minutes of the scheduled start time, the meeting is deferred to the same time the following week. At that second meeting, if quorum is still not present within 30 minutes, the meeting may proceed regardless. This provision exists to prevent a small number of owners from blocking the corporation from conducting its affairs simply by staying home.
Not all votes carry the same threshold. Alberta condo law distinguishes between two types of resolutions, and confusing them is one of the more common errors boards make.
An ordinary resolution requires a simple majority of the votes cast at a properly convened meeting. Board elections, most operational decisions, and routine motions fall into this category.
A special resolution is a different matter entirely. Under the Act, a special resolution must be passed by at least 75% of all persons entitled to vote, and those voters must collectively represent at least 75% of the total unit factors for the corporation. In Alberta, unit factors for every condominium corporation always total 10,000, meaning a passing special resolution requires support representing at least 7,500 of those unit factors.
This is a meaningful distinction. The 75% threshold applies to all eligible voters, not just those who showed up. If a condo has 40 units and 20 owners attend a meeting, the 75% calculation is not based on those 20 attendees. It is based on all 40 eligible voters. This catches many boards off guard, particularly on issues like bylaw amendments, which always require a special resolution.
A special resolution can also be passed without a meeting at all, through a written vote. Section 26(6) of the Condominium Property Act permits this, provided the same 75% thresholds are met.
Every unit in a condominium is assigned a unit factor by the developer at the time of registration. These factors represent each unit’s proportional share of the common property, and voting rights at general meetings are based on them.
In practical terms, this means a larger unit with a higher unit factor carries slightly more weight in a vote than a smaller unit. Most boards are aware of this in theory but do not always apply it correctly when tallying special resolution results. One common error is calculating the result based on the number of units rather than the number of persons entitled to vote. These are not the same thing, particularly when one owner holds title to multiple units. Under Alberta law, a person who owns more than one unit is still entitled to only a single vote, regardless of how many units they own.
Owners who cannot attend a meeting may authorize another person to vote on their behalf by proxy. The Condominium Property Regulation sets out the rules.
A proxy must be given to an adult individual. It cannot be assigned to a minor. It also cannot be given to a condominium manager or an employee of the corporation or its management company, with one narrow exception: a proxy may be assigned to a manager solely for the purpose of establishing quorum, provided the proxy document explicitly states that limitation.
Owners in arrears on their condo contributions for more than 30 days prior to the meeting date are not eligible to vote. Their proxies, if any were submitted, would similarly be excluded.
One thing worth noting: your corporation’s bylaws may address quorum, proxy procedures, and voting in detail. Where bylaws add requirements on top of the Act, those added requirements must be followed. But where bylaws conflict with the Act or its regulations, the legislation takes precedence. Boards are always encouraged to review proposed bylaw amendments with a legal advisor before putting them to a vote.
Voting errors are rarely caught in the moment. They tend to surface weeks or months later, when an affected owner challenges a decision or when the corporation discovers that a bylaw amendment was not properly passed. The consequences can range from having to redo a vote to, in more serious cases, having a court set aside a resolution entirely.
Understanding the framework, quorum rules, the difference between ordinary and special resolutions, how unit factors work, and what makes a proxy valid, goes a long way toward protecting the decisions a board works hard to make.
UrbanTec Property Management works with condo boards across Calgary and Airdrie, providing guidance on meeting procedures, governance, and day-to-day management. If your board has questions about voting rules or meeting requirements under Alberta’s Condominium Property Act, you can reach us at hello@urbantec.ca or visit urbantec.ca.
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