Ottawa Condos for Sale

Condo ownership

What you own when you buy a condo in Ontario

A condo is a form of ownership, not a type of building. You own your unit, and you share ownership of the common elements, such as the lobby, the exterior walls and the amenities, with every other owner. A condominium corporation, run by a board the owners elect, manages them under Ontario’s Condominium Act, 1998.

Three documents set the rules, and you agree to all three when you buy:

• The declaration, the corporation’s founding document. It sets each unit’s share of the common expenses, splits repair duties between owners and the corporation, and can limit how units and common elements are used.
• The by-laws, which say how the corporation governs and runs itself.
• The rules, which cover what owners and residents can do day to day, such as how the amenities are used.

The four kinds of freehold condo corporation

The Condominium Authority of Ontario (CAO) lists four:

• Standard: individual units plus common elements, and the most common kind in Ontario.
• Phased: a standard corporation built in stages, each one added to the first. The final phase has to be registered within 10 years of the first.
• Vacant land: the units are lots, often laid out like a subdivision, with shared features such as a private road.
• Common elements: no units at all, only shared features such as a road, tied to freehold homes. Our guide to Ottawa townhomes for sale explains how that works on a townhouse street.

Leasehold condos, where owners hold a lease on the land rather than owning it, exist but are not common in Ontario.

Apartment, townhouse or stacked townhouse

A condo can be an apartment in a tower, a townhouse in a row, or a stacked townhouse with one home above another. The shape of the building does not tell you the ownership.

Two rows of near-identical townhouses can be a condominium on one street and freehold lots on the next, and a stacked townhouse is often, but not always, a condominium unit. The legal description on the listing and the parcel register decide it, so your lawyer confirms the tenure before you close.

Before you firm up

How to read a condo status certificate before you buy

A status certificate is the corporation’s own statement about the unit and the building, in a form the CAO publishes. Anyone can ask for one. The corporation must deliver it within 10 days of the request and payment (Condominium Act, s. 76), and it can charge no more than $100, including all taxes (O. Reg. 48/01, s. 18).

What to look for in it:

• The unit’s common expenses, and anything the current owner owes.
• Any fee increase the board has declared since this year’s budget, or any assessment it has levied to raise reserve fund contributions, and the reason.
• The latest reserve fund study, the fund’s balance and any plan to raise contributions.
• Every judgment against the corporation and every legal action it is part of.
• The budget, the last audited financial statements and the insurance certificates.
• Substantial changes to the common elements the board has proposed but not yet carried out.
• How many units the corporation was told were rented out in the previous fiscal year.
• Copies of the declaration, the by-laws and the rules.

The certificate binds the corporation, as of its date, toward a buyer who relies on it (s. 76(6)). If the corporation misses the 10 days, the law treats it as having certified that no fees are owing on the unit and that no increase or reserve fund assessment has been declared since the budget (s. 76(5)).

Before you book a viewing

Look the building up in the CAO Condo Registry, a free database you can search by the building’s address. It shows the corporation’s board directors, its management company and its address for service.

Before you offer, we look at what similar units nearby have sold for and talk through price, conditions and timing with you, including time for your lawyer to review the status certificate.

New construction

What changes when you buy a new condo from a builder

A new condo comes with protections a resale does not. You can cancel the agreement within 10 days of the latest of three dates: when you receive the disclosure statement, when you receive the condominium guide, and when you receive the agreement signed by you and the builder (Condominium Act, s. 73).

The builder must hold your deposits in trust. If the deal does not close because the builder goes bankrupt or fundamentally breaches the agreement, Tarion protects deposits on a condo unit up to $20,000. The disclosure statement includes the proposed declaration, by-laws and rules, and the budget for the first year after the corporation is registered.

Before you sign with a builder

• Look the builder up in the HCRA’s Ontario Builder Directory, which shows its licensing status, years of activity, homes built and any regulatory action.
• Read the Statement of Critical Dates in the Condominium Home Addendum: the firm occupancy date, and the outside date if the builder misses it.
• Budget for interim occupancy. You may move in before the building is registered and pay an occupancy fee, capped at the interest on the unpaid balance plus estimated property taxes and projected common expenses.
• Read the conditions under which the project can be cancelled, such as too few units sold, financing that falls through or approvals that are delayed.

Tarion’s new home warranty runs in three periods, the longest seven years, with statutory coverage up to $300,000. A resale condo less than seven years old may still be covered, and the same directory shows a home’s warranty coverage.

Work with us

Buy or sell an Ottawa condo with The Reality Group

Buying. Tell us your priorities, preferred areas and timeline. We search with you, including off-market and pre-market homes through our relationships when available, and book the viewings around your week. Read how we help buyers and what Buyer Concierge Services add.

Selling. A condo competes with the other units in its building and nearby, so that is where the comparison starts. Begin with a home evaluation, a comparative market analysis rather than an appraisal, and see how we sell a home and our home staging and Seller Concierge Services. Any person can request a status certificate, so you can order yours when you list and have it ready for buyers.

Who to call about an Ottawa condo

Call The Reality Group at 613-704-6145 and ask for Megan Stagg, who leads our Ottawa team. Megan was born and raised in Ottawa and is an eXp ICON agent (August 2025 and July 2026). Our clients rate the team 5.0 on Google (read on 2026-10-13), and every agent on the team works through eXp Realty, Brokerage.

Megan Stagg

Real Estate Agent · Founder · Ottawa Team Lead · eXp Realty, Brokerage

Her bio describes “an investor mindset, and a natural eye for design, architecture, and creativity”. Ask her about any condo building in Ottawa, or about selling yours.

Message Megan about Ottawa condos