Big changes are coming to the Condominium Authority Tribunal (“CAT”).
- Starting October 1, 2026, the CAT will launch both a new online platform and a new set of Rules of Practice.
The changes are intended to:
- make the CAT easier to navigate,
- streamline the process for notifying parties,
- provide greater certainty around timelines and
- clarify how costs are dealt with.
Importantly, there will effectively be two CAT systems running in parallel for a while:
- Cases filed on or after October 1, 2026 will proceed on the new platform and under the new Rules.
- Cases that are already underway will remain on the existing platform and will continue under the Rules that applied when the case was commenced.
In this blog post, we explore some of the fairly significant procedural changes that caught our attention.
What is not changing
The CAT’s jurisdiction is not changing, nor is its familiar three-stage structure of Negotiation, Mediation and Adjudication.
Serving a CAT Application Is About to Get Much Easier
Anyone who has commenced a CAT application under the current system knows that getting an unresponsive respondent into the case can be a challenging exercise.
And when a respondent does not join, the current process contemplates delivery of not one, not two, but potentially three notices: the Notice of Case, the Second Notice of Case and the Final Notice of Case.
The new Rules simplify this considerably: gone are the Second and Final Notices.
Under the new Rules, if the applicant provides an email address, the CAT system will email them instructions to join the case. If they join, they are deemed to have been notified. This is not new: the existing system provides for the same process.
However, if they do not join, the applicant only needs to deliver one paper Notice of Case.
If the respondent still does not join within seven days after receiving that Notice, the applicant can move the case directly to Stage 3 – Adjudication by paying the applicable fee.
The CAT Will Do More Gatekeeping at the Application Stage
The new Rules also appear designed to catch jurisdictional and procedural problems earlier.
- Under the current Rules, the CAT may review an application to determine whether it is incomplete, late or raises matters outside its jurisdiction, and may require the applicant to provide documents to assist with that assessment.
- The new Rules go further by specifically identifying documents that must accompany certain applications.
For a records dispute, the applicant will have to provide the Request for Records form and the corporation’s response, if there was one.
For disputes involving provisions in a corporation’s governing documents dealing with pets, vehicles, parking or storage, nuisances or chargebacks, the applicant must provide a copy of the corporation’s governing documents.
The CAT may also decline to process an application if it does not identify a party required under the Rules, or if it identifies parties other than those permitted by the Condominium Act, 1998 or required by the Rules.
Stage 1 Can No Longer Go On Forever
The CAT has also placed a new outer limit on Stage 1 – Negotiation.
The existing Rules allow the CAT to close a Stage 1 case where there has been no activity by any party in the CAT system for more than 30 days.
That 30-day inactivity rule remains under the new Rules.
But the new Rules add something else: the CAT will also close a case where it has remained in Stage 1 for more than six months.
In other words, Stage 1 will no longer be capable of remaining open indefinitely simply because the parties continue periodically posting something to the system.
Applicants who want to keep their case alive will have to move the case into Stage 2.
It’s too bad that the changes do not allow the Respondent to punt the matter to mediation or adjudication. Currently, only the Applicant can do this. There are some cases where the Respondent would benefit from being able to punt the matter forward when the Applicant is dragging their feet.
The Costs Rule Has Been Rewritten
Perhaps one of the most interesting changes is found at the very end of the Rules.
The existing Rule 48.2 expressly says that the CAT generally will not order one party to reimburse another party for legal fees or disbursements, although it may do so where appropriate, including in relation to behaviour that was unreasonable, undertaken for an improper purpose, or caused delay or additional expense.
Similarly, the existing Rule 49.1 provides that the CAT will generally not order one party to compensate another for time spent related to the CAT proceeding.
That language has changed.
The new Rule 44.2 simply provides that the CAT may order a party to pay another party all or part of their costs, including costs directly related to behaviour that was unreasonable, undertaken for an improper purpose, or caused a delay or additional expense.
The express statement that the CAT will “generally not” award legal costs is gone. So too is the separate Rule 49.1 saying that compensation for time spent related to a CAT proceeding will generally not be ordered.
Does that mean the CAT is suddenly going to start routinely awarding lawyers’ fees?
We would not go that far. The CAT continues to refer to its Practice Direction on costs, and we will have to see how the Tribunal applies the new language in practice.
Still, the deletion of the express presumption against legal costs is notable and is something we will be watching closely.
There is another change with some teeth.
Under the existing Rules, a party who fails to pay amounts ordered to be paid to the CAT may not file a new application until those amounts have been paid.
Under the new Rules, specifically Rule 44.3 provides that party cannot file a new application and cannot maintain an existing case until all outstanding amounts have been paid.
Honourable Mentions
There are numerous smaller changes throughout the Rules.
For example, the Rules continue to count time in calendar days, but the new Rules expressly provide that where a deadline under the Rules falls on a holiday, the deadline is extended to the next day that is not a holiday.
The new Rules also contain an express restriction relating to medical information. The CAT will typically only accept medical information from the person to whom it relates, and parties cannot share another individual’s medical information unless authorized by the CAT.
The new Rules also expressly allow an Adjudicator to restrict cross-examination that is repetitive, abusive or otherwise inappropriate, or where all relevant matters have already been disclosed.
Looking Ahead to October 1
The CAT will still be the CAT, but the road through it is getting a bit of a makeover.
The new Rules should make it easier to start a case, notify the other parties and move things along when someone does not participate. There are also a few new deadlines to watch, and a costs rule that may leave the CAT a little more room to award costs.
We cannot wait to see whether the new platform will deliver on all of its promises. Hopefully the notification system will be tweaked to allow CAT notices by email to be more useful to the recipient who still has to log in to see what the notice is actually about.
For now, mark October 1, 2026 on the calendar. New platform, new Rules — and probably a few growing pains along the way.
