Trends in Cost Awards at the CAT

The CAT is one of many dispute resolution tools available in our industry and it provides a useful function for owners and condominiums. One of the elements that has generated debate, though, is the starting premise in the Rules that no party is entitled to their costs. In our firm’s experience, this rule has created an environment that allows the Tribunal process to be abused by owners that feel aggrieved by even the most reasonable Board decisions; either they’re not prepared to comply with those decisions, or they wish to challenge them. The result is that we’ve seen an influx of owner’s claims that would otherwise never be pursued if Court, where claimants face cost consequences for meritless claims, was the only option.

This said, there’s gradually been an important shift in the evolution on the treatment of costs at the CAT. Lately, we’ve noticed a trend emerging in cost awards: Where an owner has failed to respond to the claim against them, and they are found to be in the wrong, adjudicators are prepared to award costs against them and often significant costs (see for example LCC 14 v Favron, 2025 ONCAT 185, CCC 111 v Lega, 2022 ONCAT 123, CCC 476 v Smallridge, 2025 ONCAT 74). In our view, this is reasonable and a positive shift. 

Conversely, though, where an owner does participate in the claim, adjudicators appear to be reluctant to award costs, even if the owner is in the wrong. The messaging appears to be that owners won’t face cost consequences, even if they’re in the wrong, where they’ve participated in the process (see for example Chown v FCC 19, 2024 ONCAT 133, Puxty v FCC 57, 2025 ONCAT 166), or that adjudicators are prepared to exercise their discretion to limit costs in favour of owners, even if they’re in unsuccessful (see for example Clegg v CCC 382, 2024 ONCAT 186).

When condominiums have to respond to meritless claims, or bring claims for simple compliance issues, it’s the other innocent owners (who comply with the rules and aren’t causing controversy) that ultimately bear the financial cost. More frequently now our clients appoint legal counsel to respond to CAT claims either because the subject matter is too complex or there’s too much at stake. So, if the condominium can’t ultimately recover its costs, it’s the other owners that are stuck absorbing those costs, making condominium living more unaffordable. We don’t agree that these costs should be absorbed as a cost of doing business for the condominium given that the underlying premise in condominiums that owners buy in on is the understanding that they (and all residents) must abide by the governing documents.

On that basis, our view is that the CAT’s approach to costs still requires further balancing. The fact that an owner participated in the tribunal process isn’t enough to justify a “no cost” award where the owner is found to be legitimately in the wrong, particularly when it means all other owners bear the cost instead.

These points come to mind because the CAT recently requested feedback on potential changes to its Rules of Practice.

In our view, the way to strike a balance between facilitating justice while guarding against abuse that negatively impacts the other owners is by awarding costs against parties that have misused the system. The message our firm has delivered in every cost submission we’ve made is that: where the condominium has been successful, and its conduct has been reasonable, it should be entitled to its costs. This is the way Courts have balanced access to justice with fairness in the condominium context, and we think the same principle makes sense at CAT. Clegg v CCC 382, 2025 ONCA 119 is an example of the CAT moving towards this balance.

At the end of the day, if the CAT was better able to manage the impact that the influx of claims against condominiums has had on all owners in Ontario, our view is that it would be a better measure of the Tribunal’s success, rather than measuring its value based on the high volume of claims it receives annually.

Stay tuned to Condo Law News to keep up to date on the latest developments on condominium law!