Important Information about Common Elements

The Performance Audit is a requirement of the Condominium Act. It is a comprehensive inspection of a project’s common elements to identify any deficiencies that need to be addressed, such as water penetration or fire safety issues. For more details, review section 44 of the Condominium Act.


The condominium’s common elements warranty begins on the date the project’s Declaration and Description or Amendment to the Declaration is registered.

In certain cases, a common element defect may damage a unit. In this situation, the condominium corporation representative and unit owner may need to work together to achieve timely resolution to both areas of damage.

During this time you should inform the unit owner that their unit comes with its own warranty, and that it is their responsibility to make warranty claims to the builder and Tarion for deficiencies located within the boundaries of their unit.

If your designate changes, a new Appointment of Designate form must be completed.

If you are unsure of the boundaries between units and common elements, refer to “Schedule C” of the Declaration and Description.

If after receiving the Conciliation Assessment Report the condominium corporation has questions or concerns, they are encouraged to contact the Warranty Services Representative assigned to your case to discuss them. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Warranty Services Representative, you may contact their Manager.

If the condominium corporation disagrees with any of Tarion's warranty assessments and wish to dispute those findings, the condominium corporation can contact Tarion to request a Decision Letter. At this time, Tarion will determine whether any further negotiation, facilitation, or investigation will help to resolve the outstanding issue(s). The condominium corporation can also request that Tarion provide the most recent version of any third-party expert reports if they were used by Tarion in making their assessment.

For items Tarion has found to be not warranted or withdrawn in the Conciliation Assessment Report, Tarion will issue a Decision Letter to the condominium corporation 150 days from the date when the Conciliation Assessment Report was issued, if one has not already been requested. This Decision Letter sets out rights of appeal to the Licence Appeal Tribunal.

The condominium corporation is also entitled to ask Tarion to arrange mediation as a further route to early resolution. This type of mediation will be between the condominium corporation and Tarion only (it will not involve the builder - unless the condominium corporation would like to invite the builder). It will be conducted by an independent external mediator. Subject to certain rules it is a mediator of your of your choice and will be strictly confidential. The condominium corporation will have the option of choosing a mediator from a list provided by Tarion or putting forward an alternative mediator. In most cases, the costs associated with this type of mediation are covered by Tarion.

In addition, or alternatively, as mentioned the condominium corporation can request a Decision letter which allows you to appeal Tarion's warranty assessment decision to the province's independent tribunal called the Licence Appeal Tribunal, for more information on this, visit our page on alternative methods of resolving claims page.


You must submit a Performance Audit Tracking Summary with your warranty claim with unit surveys added as items. This will be used by you, Tarion and the vendor/builder to track the status of your claim items. Visit our dedicated page for more information on the Performance Audit.

Unit defects are not covered under the common elements warranty. An item of concern regarding a unit, even if the concern is identified in the Performance Audit/Statutory Warranty Form, must be reported to Tarion in writing by the individual unit owner within the unit's applicable warranty period. Please refer to the Declaration to confirm unit boundaries.

Items of concern regarding common elements facilities that are shared by more than one Condominium Corporation/Phase must be reported by the Condominium Corporation/Phase that owns the facilities. The warranty start date for the shared facilities is the registration date of the Condominium Corporation/Phase that owns the facilities. Please refer to the Declaration and Description for each Condominium Corporation/Phase to confirm ownership of the shared facilities.

Ensure the location, extent and nature of an item are described in the Performance Audit/ Statutory Warranty Form.

Tarion will only assess an item of concern if its location, extent and nature are explicitly described in the Performance Audit/Statutory Warranty Form and if it is reported within the applicable warranty period. 

Each location must be submitted individually avoid the terms throughout or not limited to. This is the same for items included on unit surveys. 

For common elements claims, there is an onus of proof which requires a claim to be identified and substantiated. It is not enough for a Performance Auditor to identify only a symptom of a potential defect.

The Common Element Construction Performance Guidelines describe many of the most commonly reported items of concern and indicate which are covered by the warranty. You may refer to the Guidelines prior to contacting Tarion to determine whether the condition you are concerned about meets the applicable standards.

If your condominium is part of a condominium conversion project, please note that the warranty coverage for pre-existing common elements differs from the new elements of the building. Your Agreement of Purchase and Sale will include documents outlining if any part of your common elements are pre-existing elements. Pre-existing elements have similar warranty coverage as new construction, however they are not covered against defects in workmanship and materials in the first year. Your condominium corporation may have a fund established by the builder to address necessary repairs to pre-existing elements. 

For more information, please refer to Registrar Bulletin 18.