Canada's
 First Condominium,
 Edmonton's
 Brentwood Village
celebrates its
 40th Anniversary
December 20, 2007

CondoServe.Com is pleased to reprint this
 article from 2000 by:

Donald J. Kramer, Q.C.
of Edmonton, Alberta

THE FIRST CONDOMINIUM IN CANADA

1967 was a milestone in Canadian history.

On July 1, Canada celebrated its 100th birthday, and to close out the year celebrated the birth of condominium in the country, Condominium Plan CDE 100 was registered at the North Alberta Land Registration District Office in Edmonton, Alberta, on December 20, 1967 at 3:00 p.m. This 56 Unit townhouse complex heralded the first condominium development in Canada.

Brentwood Village is located in northeast Edmonton. The initial advertising for the project noted it was Canada's first condominium and that Alberta was the first province in Canada to draft condominium legislation and provide regulations to run them. The developer, Murray Hill Developments Ltd. went on to describe the project as:

"A new concept in carefree living".

From $854.00 down, you could own one of the 56 Units, ranging in size from 1213 square feet to 1402 square feet. There were 8 different models offering 3 and 4 bedrooms. The Units featured full basements and boasted paved parking. In addition, the sales material noted that it was:

* architecturally designed
* near schools
* bath and half in each Unit
* equipped play areas, tennis courts, wading pools, rinks
* landscaping professionally designed
* bricks with siding or stucco exteriors

Interestingly enough, there were no tennis courts, wading pools or rinks installed and the play area has long since been removed. 

In marketing the project, the Developer took pains to demystify what condominium was about.  The advertising material stated:

"The term "condominium" means a system of separate ownership of individual units in multi-unit buildings. They are actually colonies of townhouses or high quality attached one family homes set in attractive semi-circles about common areas. Priced from $13,680.00 to $15,000.00, with down payments as law as $854.00, Brentwood Village is especially designed to meet the requirements of today's "mobile" society. The prices are kept low in an era of continually rising land costs by clustering the houses in groups of two or more around common court yards and greens, cutting the cost of roads and utilities. This also leaves 75% of the land area open for parks, wading pools, play space and recreational facilities, fully equipped for children and adults."

Derek Wiedman, President of the Company that built Brentwood Village (Murray Hill Developments Ltd.) noted that there were a lot of people in Edmonton who did not know what a condominium was. He even made reference to the fact that some people thought it was a dirty word. While the initial pricing was just over $13,000.00, due to the tremendous demand for the project, prices were raised to the $15,000.00 level after approximately one half of the units were sold. Being first on the block naturally led to some hiccups.

Mr. Wiedman noted that there were some paperwork snags at the Land Titles Office. Indeed, in registering any condominium plan, developers are required to disclose how voting and the assessment of condominium fees are going to be determined. Unfortunately, this information was left off the Brentwood Village plan. Mr. Wiedman noted that it "took a while to get going". Later on after the units were sold and occupied, numerous complaints with regard to street and house numbering were received by the City's planning department. Eventually some street and avenue numbers were changed in the area and finally mail and other deliveries arrived at the intended doorsteps. 

The first owners moved into the project in late December, 1967. Most were families with children taking advantage of the 7% mortgages offered over 25 years. Principal and tax payments amounted to $115.00 a month and provided an attractive alternative to renting.

Seeing as there are now more than 4500 condominiums registered in Alberta today and tens of thousands more registered across Canada, you would have to declare the condominium experiment a great success. 

At the invitation of Bob Kelly, President of CondoServe Inc., some of the original and current owners of Brentwood Village were interviewed. Josephine Solowan and her late husband, Bill, moved in just after Christmas 1967. There they raised their son and daughter. She noted that when she and her husband bought their unit, her income was not included in determining whether or not they could qualify for the mortgage. Furthermore, at the time of the purchase, she and her husband were offered $2,000.00 not to move in so that the property could be flipped. In addition, interest rates had risen at the time. She and her husband flatly refused as it was in the dead of winter and she did not want to start looking for another place to live.

Mrs. Solowan (or Josie as she is referred to by her friends) is arguably the most experienced condominium owner in Canada. Her interest in buying in the project started with an ad in the Edmonton Journal. She and her husband were renting at the time and just like other couples decided that they would rather create some equity and own property, rather than rent.

Josie never did get involved with the administration of the Condominium Corporation. This was largely due to the first owners' meeting at which it was observed that no pets were to be permitted. One owner then referred to his wife as being his 'pet' and that did not go over well with her. In responding to why she stayed over the years, she indicated that at one point they were thinking about moving because of work related issues and actually put their unit up for sale. However, when they actually started looking at other homes they discovered that the bedrooms were too small and where they were looking would cause them to drive into the sun both to and from work. Furthermore, their prospective purchasers wanted them to carry a second mortgage. Eventually she and her husband declined and she has been a resident ever since.

As for the changes to the law that have taken place over the years Josie says she takes it all in stride. Nothing seems to bother her and she can't do much about it anyway. Besides, as she pointed out, she is only one vote. She has no regrets living in the project and if she could change anything it is how the water system is run. There are no common water taps to service the common areas and so the Corporation has to use the owner's water. While the Condominium Corporation paid the owners for the use of their water, it was only recently brought to the attention of the Owners that they should also be compensated for the cost of the waste water (as waste water charges are tied into water consumption).

Other than that, Josie thinks living in the project has been a breeze. She liked the idea of someone dealing with lawn maintenance and snow clearing and it afforded her and her family the opportunity to go camping and pursue other leisure time activities. She left the work force once her children grew up and moved out. Interestingly enough both of her children have bought their own condominiums. 

When asked of there were any other features about living in a condominium that appealed to her, she noted that she made friends with many of her neighbours, in fact she described them as "excellent". She also observed that initially the condominium fees were very reasonable but wishes that they were higher back then so they would have the monies in a reserve to replace rather than repair and patch up things. She concluded by observing that she made a home, raised a family and for the most part enjoyed every minute of it.

Betty Nelson moved into the project with her late husband Robert Lind in May of 1968. She and her husband bought their unit in 1967 but it was not ready for them to move in until the following spring. Both she and her husband thought it was a new concept but they should try it out. Her husband was a telephone man and came across the project in his travels. They investigated and thought it would be a good idea as they were currently renting, having moved
from Ontario in the mid '60's. They had been renting in Edmonton for half dozen years before taking the plunge. 

Both she and Josie noted that the property was built on time and that the only minor upset that she encountered was that one counter door was blocked by the fridge. On reflection that is not a bad testament to the developers of the day. Her husband was on the first board but she never got involved in the Condominium Corporation's administration. However, she only missed one or two Annual General Meetings and she has kept aware of changes to the Condominium Property Act. Indeed, today she realizes that some of the decisions made by the Condominium Corporation were not the wisest. She cites, as an example, owners being allowed to plant trees in their back yards. The tree roots eventually got into the utility and sewer systems. 

Unfortunately matters were not well documented and, of course, this left owners who purchased from owners who planted trees in an unenviable position. While it was originally intended that owners be responsible for the trees they planted, eventually the Corporation took over and assumed responsibility. She now realizes that it is probably best to leave everything in the hands of the Condominium Corporation. In the main, however, she believes the Condominium Corporation has done a good job of managing the Condominium Corporation's affairs. She too, like Josie, liked her neighbours and made a point of knowing everybody in the project when she was raising her two boys.

Now that she has remarried and the children have grown up and moved out, she and her new husband, Jack Nelson, are thinking of moving. There is more traffic in the area and the lack of garages does not hold a lot of appeal in winter. However, each time they go out and look at other places to live, they end up coming back thinking, why should we move, we like it here and it suits our life style. As she indicated, she has no regrets having decided to live there. It was a good place for her kids, she had good neighbours and was close to schools.

Shirley and Phil Turner have lived in the project since 1974. Indeed, they were able to assume one of the original 7% mortgages. But the mortgages have long been paid off and the kids have long since moved out. Phil, a retired CN employee now finds his days taken up as a member of the Board of the Condominium Corporation. He currently is serving as the Condominium Corporation's President. Interestingly enough he pointed out that apathy still seems to be a problem on his Board. Currently the Condominium Corporation can only get four owners (of a maximum of seven) to serve on the Board. While many hands make light work, the lack of problems facing the Condominium Corporation allow for the four Board Members to carry out the obligations assigned to the Board by the Act and the By-laws. There are no structural problems per se, although there was one sewer collapse some time ago. Apart from a few front steps separating, there is nothing major that needs to be addressed, although he, like Josie wishes more money had been put in the Reserve Fund.

Shirley Turner observed that she wished that owners took more responsibility in looking after the common property. Furthermore, just because owners live in a condominium, they should not have to look to the board to solve inter-personal disputes. However, that does not mean that activities that affect the interests of all owners should not be brought to the board's attention.

When Phil joined the Canadian Condominium Institute in 1988 he became aware of the need for reserves and has ever since been promoting the concept with the administration of the project. Like Betty, he wished that they had "taxed" the previous owners so that they have the money today to fix rather special assessing the current owners. However, as a self-managed project, the place he feels is not in bad shape. Shirley indicated that they are not thinking of moving now. Because of Phil's involvement with CCI she too has become familiar with a number of condominium projects and realizes that you can't beat Brentwood Village.  It is still a family oriented project with only a small percentage of units being rented. 

Condominium fees at Brentwood Village average $120.00 to $140.00 a month, including monies for Reserve Fund and special assessment that was levied in 1999. Phil indicated that since he has been back on the Board (he had served in previous administrations), he feels that owners still do not tell the Board about some of the problems that affect all of the members of the Corporation. This is particularly true when it comes to building envelope concerns. However, the Board has initiated a feed back process involving questionnaires touching such topics as windows and doors.

As for the changes to the Condominium Property Act, both Phil and Shirley pointed out that some owners find that their Corporations do not respond in a timely fashion to inquiries. This forces the owners to seek legal redress and that, in many instances, the Boards may have too much power. While Phil realizes Boards are not baby sitters it still irks him that some of the complaints he fields in his role in answering the CCI hot line, focuses on the failure of Boards to appreciate their responsibilities (oh yes, Phil has served in various capacities on the North Alberta Chapter of the Canadian Condominium Institute over the last several years).

Phil also made a comment regarding the role of former board members. He feels that they should keep in touch with the condominium and make their expertise available to the new board members. In turn new board members should not be afraid to contact the former board members to solicit their opinions and views on issues. As Phil suggests, too many boards want to reinvent the wheel.

Condominiums have come a long way and are now reaching "middle age". The condominium concept has proven a worthy endeavor and it is interesting to note that the questions and answers initially used to market Brentwood Village are still true today. A copy of the questions and answers prepared by the Developer, Murray Hill Developments is appended to this Article. 

 Click  To View
 A Photo of the Cairn erected by CMHC & CCI at Brentwood Village

Click  To Read
 The Plaque installed in the Monument

Click  To View
 A stylized image of the Condominium Plan for Brentwood Village

 Click To View
 A Walkway Photo of some Brentwood Village residences

Developer's Question & Answer Attachment