Accessibility Laws in Ontario

On June 13, 2005, the Ontario government passed the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005. The act makes Ontario the first jurisdiction in Canada to develop, implement and enforce mandatory accessibility standards, and
applies to both the private and public sectors.

Several "prongs" to the legislation are in the works, planned to be implemented over the next few years, however the first phase, dealing with customer services standards is now in place and all businesses with at least one employee must have certain policies and procedures in place by January 1, 2012. The law requires you to:

(1) develop policies and procedures for serving customers/clients with disabilities. These policies must be consistent with the principles of independence, dignity, integration and equality of opportunity;
(2) have a policy on allowing people to use their own assistive devices to access your goods and services;
(3) communicate with a person with a disability in a manner that takes into account his or her disability;
(4) allow people with disabilities to be accompanied by their guide dog or service animal in areas of your business that are open to the public;
(5) permit people with disabilities who rely on a support person to bring that person with them while accessing your goods or services;
(6) where admission fees are charged, post information about what your policy is regarding what fee, if any, would be charged for a support person of a person with a disability;
(7) if you offer facilities or services for people with disabilities (such as an elevator or accessible washroom), let people know when they are out of order;
(8) train your staff, volunteers and contractors to serve customers with disabilities; and
(9) let customers with disabilities provide feedback on how you met their needs and establish a process to respond and take action on any complaints.

If you employ more than 20 employees, you will have the following additional requirements:
(10) complete an online report on your compliance by the reporting deadline;
(11) document in writing all of your policies and procedures on how you provide accessible customer service;
(12) notify customers that all of the documents required by the standard are available upon request; and
(13) when providing documents required under the standard, make sure the information is in a format that takes into account the person’s disability.

Additional information, bulletins, sample policies and videos are available on the Ministry web site at http://bit.ly/gKyIJC

About one in seven Ontarians are currently considered disabled and, with the aging population, that number will soon be more like one in five. Complying with the law, and serving this large segment of society, makes good business sense.

Condominiums and Status Certificates

If you are considering purchasing a condominium, you will no doubt have heard about status certificates. These are documents which are provided by the condominium corporation you are buying into, which outline a number of things about the condo and the building. Ontario law dictates fairly strictly what needs to be included in the package of information that accompanies the certificate. The purpose of this is to allow you and your lawyer some time to have a look at the operations of the condo corp, the financials, the specific condo unit and any issues pertaining to unpaid condo fees, damages, etc. It will also disclose whether the unit you are thinking about buying has a locker or parking space and it will disclose how the condo fees are arrived at for your unit.

There is a lot to a package like this. Most real estate lawyers will review this package for specific issues which might impact your decision on whether to purchase. This is typically part of the work that a lawyer does on a condominium purchase file. But it also makes sense to have a look yourself, especially at the summary of information that is contained in the first few pages. Working together with your lawyer and real estate agent, you want to do everything you can to ensure that you are getting what you think you are getting. The status certificate is an important tool in the arsenal of your real estate team.

Thanks to Stephanie Adams for suggesting this topic!

Mortgages and Fire Insurance

Just had to tell a client today that I could not help them close a mortgage on a farm property because, unfortunately, the house and other building on the farm were not insurable. Old knob and tube wiring means it's pretty tough if not impossible to get fire insurance. And no fire insurance means no mortgage. The owner of the farm was quite upset. I had to explain that fire insurance is required because it protects the interests of the lender in the property. If a fire was to destroy the building, and no insurance was available to rebuild, the property value would decrease significantly and, in the event of a default, the lender may not be able to recoup its investment when it sells the property under power of sale or foreclosure. So electrical work should be the first order of business for owners of older homes, both for safety and for financing.

What Does Your Lawyer do on a Real Estate Purchase?

So what does the lawyer do anyway? Well, here's a brief list of a few things your lawyer's office is working on behind the scenes, to make your deal close smoothly! First, we sometimes get contacted by your agent to assist in drafting the Offer, if there are aspects of the deal which are out of the ordinary course. We also often get asked to review the Offer as a condition of firming up the deal. Once the Agreement is firm, we start working toward closing. We order a search of title and a tax certificate to ensure that what you think you are getting you are actually getting. We work with the Vendor's lawyer to deal with any title issues. We receive instructions with respect to your mortgage and we draft the documents for both the purchase and the mortgage. We review the Vendor's documents and comment on any issues needing correction. We meet with you to sign all of the purchase and mortgage documents, review your title and answer any questions you may have about the process. Throughout the process, if you have questions or concerns, your lawyer is there to help and is only a phone call away. Your lawyer, agent and mortgage broker should work as team to get your closing done. Once the deal has closed, we put together a package for you with our reporting letter, a copy of all of the documents including your Deed and Mortgage, and a statement of account which includes a trust statement showing all funds going into and out of our account on your behalf. The most pleasant thing that we do, however, is hand you the keys to your new home and wish you well! As always, if you have any questions, feel free to email me at jmcphail@burgarrowe.com

What's Your Exit Strategy?

I had a meeting recently with a long-time business owner and franchisee. I was reviewing a new franchise agreement that he was being asked to sign for several franchised locations. The agreement was for five years, no right of renewal. This gentleman was not concerned with the lack of renewal rights at first, since he figured he would be retired by then. But when we started to talk a bit more about the value of the business that he had built over 25 years, it was evident that he had not considered a sale of the business as part of his exit strategy. In fact, he just thought that in five years, he would walk away. The business had been good to him, allowing him to earn a living for many years. After discussing a possible sale, he realized that there could indeed be someone out there who might be willing to pay for an assignment of his franchise rights. Once this realization hit him, he understood the value of a right to renew in his franchise agreement (and his leases). It's interesting to me that some business people don't think of their businesses in terms of saleable. They are a way to earn a living, but can also be a substantial asset that someone else will pay good money for. Even though a business is franchised, and sometimes there are restrictions on sale, it's worth having a look at and determining what the exit strategy may be. Once you know approximately when and how you wish to exit the business, it allows you to have a look at opportunities you may not have thought of before. And the strategies for getting there - like ensuring you negotiate for a right to renew an agreement. What's your exit strategy? Knowing the answer to that question makes good business sense.

The Family Business

I have had a few years of experience under my belt, dealing with all sorts of businesses, and I would say that one of the most challenging is often the family run business. You know, the company that grampa started, and now has been passed down to dad, who has his two kids also working in the business? The difficulty with this sort of business, is that it has this extra layer or nuance, easily recognizable at the dinner table during the holidays. Sometimes, mixing family and business can work, and sometimes it creates so many undercurrents in everyones' lives and creates so much stress, that it never really becomes what it could be. If you are involved in a family run business, I would highly recommend a book by Tom Deans called "Every Family's Business". It is an interesting and eye-opening read. CAFE (The Canadian Association of Family Enterprise) is lucky enough to have him coming back to Barrie to talk about family businesses and succession planning. Burgar Rowe is proud to be one of the sponsors of this event, being held at the Barrie Country Club on October
18th from 7 - 9pm. If you are interested in attending, call Joan at (705)726-6331.

Health Practitioners Treating Spouses Beware!

A recent Ontario Court of Appeal case should be noted by all health professionals as a potential cause for concern. Leering v. College of Chiropractors of Ontario
[2010] O.J. No. 406 seems to indicate that a health professional treating their spouse, as a patient, is automatically in violation of section 51(1)(b.1) of the Health Professions Procedural Code! While there must be a patient/health professional relationship established, as opposed to mere “episodic” care (ie) a doctor and her husband are in an accident and she gives him emergency treatment, this along with a sexual relationship is all that is needed in order to be in violation of the Code. If you are a dentist and you see your spouse in your office every 6 months for a checkup, she is likely a “patient”. If your spouse later complains to the RCDS, you could have the same trouble as Leering.

Osgoode Hall Law School’s website “The Court” has a good article on this case and a few other related cases, for those of you who may be interested in more information at http://bit.ly/bfhTob Sometimes legislation gets written, usually with the best of intentions, but the language is poor and so the courts are then faced with having to follow that language, even when the result seems a bit extreme. Hopefully the various lobbying bodies for the professions will jump on this and attempt to have the legislation amended so that the mere fact that someone treats their spouse is not, in and of itself, “sexual abuse” and professional misconduct. Certainly we all want to ensure that patients are protected from abuses of power by medical professionals. But speaking as the spouse of a dentist, I see absolutely no reason why I should not have the best dentist I know treat me, just because I happen to also be married to the guy!