Scaalr addresses three duties that recur in the CMRAO's inspection findings and discipline decisions: handing a client's records back within the statutory clock at contract end, moving client money only through a control that records the reason, and giving owners notice with proof of who was sent it, who opened it, and who acknowledged it. The Condominium Management Services Act, 2015 licenses the manager, not the software. The licensee answers for each duty; Scaalr keeps the record each one produces.
You hold the licence, so the questions come to you: did the last client get its records back inside fifteen days, did any of the corporation's money move without a second look, and was every owner told about the meeting in a way you can prove. Each is answered from a record or from memory, and s. 60 of the Act lets the inspector go straight to the record. The regime makes you accountable for the answer. Scaalr makes the record able to account for itself.
Every statement of the law below is taken from Ontario e-Laws as consolidated to its September 17, 2026 currency date, with the section named, and none of it is legal advice.
Who the CMRAO licenses, and where the three duties come from
The Condominium Management Regulatory Authority of Ontario (CMRAO) administers the Condominium Management Services Act, 2015, and the Act licenses people and firms, not products. Section 34(1) requires a licence to provide condominium management services, which s. 1(1) defines by the activity: collecting or holding the corporation's money, or exercising delegated powers such as paying third parties, entering into contracts, and supervising the corporation's staff or contractors. Section 34(2) bars anyone unlicensed from holding themselves out as a manager or provider. Scaalr is residential property management software that a licensed manager uses. It is not a condominium management provider and provides no condominium management services, and every dispatch and every dollar in it is a human decision.
The three duties on this page are the ones the CMRAO's own inspections program page names among its focus areas (records turnover, and the administration of owners' meetings) and the subject its published discipline decisions return to (client money): the hand-over of a client's records under s. 54 of the Act and O. Reg. 123/17, s. 35; financial responsibility and the prevention of error and fraud under the Code of Ethics, O. Reg. 3/18, ss. 8 and 10; and notice to owners under s. 47 of the Condominium Act, 1998, a duty of the corporation that the manager carries out. Section 60(3) of the Act is why all three end at a screen: an inspector may require a licensee to produce any relevant record, in any form, and may use any data system the licensee uses in its business to produce it.
Records handed back within the clock
Section 54(1) of the Act requires a licensee, on termination of a management contract, to immediately transfer to the client all documents and records relating to the client, and O. Reg. 123/17, s. 35 sets the clock: 15 days for records that exist, 30 days for a record the contract required the licensee to create. A copy the licensee needs for the contract may be kept (s. 54(2)), secure and used for nothing else (s. 35(3) and (4)), and s. 54(3) bars holding anything back to pressure the client. The CMRAO's inspections program page, read September 21, 2026, lists records management practices, including records turnover, first among the focus areas of its proactive inspections. The receiving end is what the profession complains about: a records specialist writing in ACMO's CM Magazine (Spring 2022) described taking over buildings with "incomplete monthly financial statements, missing reserve fund studies, and spotty minute records."
In Scaalr the hand-over is a set of reports the operator produces for the client's period: the general ledger, every financial statement, each bank reconciliation, and the case histories, printed or exported to PDF, Excel, or CSV, on every plan. Because a closed month refuses any posting dated inside it, the books handed back are the books the board already received, month by month, with the source entry behind every line. Two boundaries belong in the same breath. Scaalr has no single whole-account export, so the hand-over runs report by report; and it provides no records-retention, archival, or backup service, so the copies a licensee keeps after termination are the copies it exported before, which is also the copy s. 54(2) lets it hold.
Client money that moves only with a reason
The Code of Ethics asks a licensee to be financially responsible in providing condominium management services (s. 8) and to use best efforts to prevent error, misrepresentation, fraud, or any unethical practice (s. 10). Client money is a recurring subject of the CMRAO's published discipline decisions, and its Financial Management practice guide (February 2025) came with a webinar FAQ whose questions are the ones operators actually ask, including whether dual-signature cheques are required when one person can make an online transfer. The CMRAO's answer: "one-person online transfers should not be done." The regime sets no trust-account or signing-authority rule of its own for licensees; the control is the licensee's to build.
Scaalr does not move money at the bank. It is where the movement gets recorded and reconciled, and where a movement without a reason cannot hide. Posting, unposting, or deleting an entry dated in a closed month is refused; reopening the month takes a permission no default role holds and a written reason that is recorded. A completed bank reconciliation is locked, matching a mismatched amount requires a variance reason, and reopening a reconciliation takes the same unpost permission and a reason. Statement lines arrive by CSV upload and are matched to ledger entries one by one, so the bank's version and the books' version are compared on the record, not from memory. On the Scale plan the field-level audit log adds who changed which field, the value before and after, and when, with a PDF export. The boundary: Scaalr has no dual-approval or maker-checker workflow. A second signer is a policy your team applies through the roles you assign, and a role can be granted only by someone whose own role sits above it.
Owner notices with a receipt
Notice to owners is the corporation's duty under s. 47 of the Condominium Act, 1998, and the manager is the one who sends it. A notice must be in writing; a notice of meeting goes out at least 15 days before the meeting, and the preliminary notice at least 20 days before that; it goes to the owners in the corporation's record of owners and mortgagees under s. 46.1, by personal delivery, prepaid mail to the address for service, delivery to the unit, or, subject to the by-laws, to an electronic communication address in that record. O. Reg. 48/01, s. 12.6.1 sets the conditions for the electronic route: the owner gave the address in writing, the board decided the corporation may send by that method, and the owner has not asked in writing to stop. The CMRAO lists administration of owners' meetings and elections among its inspection focus areas, and further changes to the meeting and requisition rules are being phased in under O. Reg. 236/26.
In Scaalr the notice is an announcement addressed to a property's owners, or to all owners. It appears in each owner's portal feed and goes out as a branded email with a "Read in portal" link, scheduled or immediate, with the notice document attached to the post for download. Mark it as requiring acknowledgement and the portal asks each owner to acknowledge it; a reminder goes only to those who have not. The receipt is per owner: email status and sent time, whether it was opened, whether and when it was acknowledged, and how many reminders went out, exportable as a CSV with UTC timestamps, and every send sits in the email delivery log with its bounce status. What stays yours: the s. 46.1 record, each owner's consent to electronic notice, the timing, the prescribed form and material, notice to mortgagees, and every owner not served electronically. Every announcement email carries an unsubscribe link, and an owner who has opted out is recorded as skipped and not mailed, so that owner is served by another method. Scaalr has no proxy, requisition, or meeting object. The notice is delivered with a receipt; the meeting is yours.
The three duties, side by side
The table pairs each duty with where it is written, what Scaalr does today, what stays the licensee's, and the plan the mechanism ships on.
| The duty | Where it is written | What Scaalr does today | What stays yours | Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hand the client's records back within 15 days, 30 for a record still to be created | CMSA s. 54; O. Reg. 123/17, s. 35 | The general ledger, statements, reconciliations, and case histories export per report to PDF, Excel, or CSV for the client's period; closed months keep them as the board received them. | Running the exports before the end date and keeping the copies; there is no whole-account export and no retention service. | Every plan |
| Be financially responsible; prevent error, misrepresentation, and fraud | Code of Ethics ss. 8 and 10 | Closed months refuse postings; reopening takes a rare permission and a recorded reason; completed reconciliations lock; mismatches need a variance reason; the audit log shows who changed what and when. | The bank itself, signing authority, and any second-signer policy; there is no dual-approval workflow. | Every plan; audit log on Scale |
| Give owners written notice, on time, by a permitted method | Condominium Act s. 47; O. Reg. 48/01, s. 12.6.1 | An announcement to a property's owners in the portal and by email, scheduled or now, with the document attached, required acknowledgement, reminders, and a per-owner receipt exportable as CSV. | The record of owners and mortgagees, each owner's electronic-notice consent, the timing, the prescribed form, mortgagees, and anyone served by mail or in person. | Every plan |
What stays yours
Scaalr has no condominium module: no corporation entity, board, meetings, reserve fund, common-expense billing, status certificates, or records-request workflow, and its Ontario logic covers the Residential Tenancies Act, not the Condominium Act. It keeps one general-purpose double-entry ledger per customer account; a trust or segregated bank account is an ordinary cash account you create and reconcile. There is no dual approval, no whole-account export, no retention or backup service, and no tracking of licences, continuing education, insurance, or regulator filings. Scaalr holds no SOC 2 or ISO certification; the controls above are verifiable on a walkthrough, and the ledger they sit on is mapped in Property Management Accounting: The Complete Guide, its close in Month-End Close Checklist for Property Managers, its reconciliation in Bank Reconciliation for Property Managers: Step by Step, and its optional customer-held encryption in Is Your Financial Data Safe in Cloud Property Software?. Every dollar, every record, every notice. Scaalr keeps the receipt.
Key questions
Does condo management software have to be CMRAO approved?
No. The Condominium Management Regulatory Authority of Ontario licenses condominium managers and management providers under the Condominium Management Services Act, 2015; it does not license, approve, or certify software, so no product is CMRAO approved or CMRAO compliant. What the regime asks of a licensee's records is a set of keeping, production, and hand-over duties, and the licensee answers for them whatever tool produces the record.
What happens to condo records when a management contract ends?
They go back to the corporation. Section 54 of the Condominium Management Services Act, 2015 requires a licensee to transfer all documents and records relating to the client on termination, and O. Reg. 123/17, s. 35 sets the clock: 15 days, or 30 days for a record the contract required the licensee to create that did not yet exist. The licensee may keep a copy it needs for the contract, kept secure and used for nothing else, and may not hold anything back to pressure the client.
Can a CMRAO inspector access my software?
Yes. Section 60(3) of the Condominium Management Services Act, 2015 lets an inspector require a licensee to produce any relevant record and to provide the assistance needed, including using any data storage, processing or retrieval system to produce it in any form, and lets the inspector use any such system the licensee uses in its business to produce relevant information. Withholding, concealing, altering, or destroying relevant records during an inspection is prohibited by s. 60(5).
Can a condo meeting notice be sent by email in Ontario?
Yes, under conditions. Section 47(4)(c) of the Condominium Act, 1998 allows a notice to go to an owner's electronic communication address in the corporation's record of owners, subject to the by-laws, and O. Reg. 48/01, s. 12.6.1 sets the conditions: the owner provided the address in writing, the board decided the corporation may send notices that way, and the owner has not asked in writing to stop. Scaalr delivers the announcement and keeps the per-owner receipt; the record of owners and each owner's consent are the corporation's, and an owner outside the conditions is served by mail or in person.
Does the CMRAO regulate AI?
No, as of September 21, 2026. The Condominium Management Services Act, 2015 and its three regulations do not mention artificial intelligence, software, or cloud storage, and a search of cmrao.ca on that date returned no guidance for licensees on any of them. What the regime regulates is the licensee: whatever tool produces a record, the licensee answers for its accuracy, its security, its disclosure, and its hand-over.
Which Scaalr plan includes the audit log?
Scale. The field-level audit log, which records who changed which field, the before and after values, and when, with full snapshots on create and delete and a PDF export, is a Scale-plan feature. Period locks with recorded reopen reasons, reconciliation locks with variance reasons, role-scoped access, case histories, and owner announcements with acknowledgement receipts are on every plan, including Starter. Ledger encryption behind a customer-held secret is Growth and up.