Weilers LLP
By Brian Babcock, August 5th, 2022
As the court put it in the first paragraph of its judgment, “[T]his appeal highlights the challenges that may arise when cottage property is owned by multiple family members.”
What if your family cottage property is so large and so valuable that the Ontario Court of Appeal redacts all information about value or price? What if the dispute involves 25 family members from five groups or clans? What if 13 of the family members have an interest in the value of the land, while the other 12 only have rights to use the property and contribute to the maintenance? Then what happens if some of the family members, but not all, want to sell to realize on the increased value of the property?
These were the questions that arose in Lash v. Lash Point Association Corp. It was definitely a nightmare in spite of obvious careful attempts to plan, including the formation of the Lash Point Association Corp. to hold the property. The Lash case is a reminder of the need to provide a simple, inexpensive, and speedy means to resolve a dispute when and if some but not all family members want to dispose of the property.
No matter how much you may intend to keep the property in the family, you should plan for the almost certain inevitability that at some point it will be sold.
How to Plan and Avoid Disputes:
- a written agreement covering the shared cost and use, to reduce or avoid disputes in the future.
- careful planning for the future ownership of the property, if the intent is to keep it in the family;
- a plan for future sharing of expenses;
- a plan for how the use will be shared; and
- a written agreement covering the shared cost and use, to reduce or avoid disputes in the future.
