What a Manager Who Answers Looks Like: Service Standards London Ontario Boards Should Expect
(From a Condominium Management Expert)
Practical Guidance for Smarter Governance in London & Sarnia, Ontario
A director in London Ontario sends the manager a question on Monday. By Thursday there is still no reply, so she calls, gets voicemail, and leaves a message. Nobody is ignoring her on purpose. There is simply no standard that says when an answer is due, so the answer comes whenever it comes.
This guide sets out what a manager who answers actually looks like. It covers what "answering" should mean for calls, emails and owner questions, how to put service standards in writing, how your board can track them with its own records, and why consistency from one year to the next matters as much as speed.
What does a condo manager who answers actually do?
A manager who answers acknowledges every board and owner request quickly, gives a realistic next step, and closes the loop when the matter is done. Speed matters, but the bigger difference is that the board never has to chase.
In practice, that looks like a few simple habits:
• A real person picks up the phone during office hours, or calls back the same day.
• Emails get a reply that confirms who is handling the request and when the next update will come.
• Open items carry a status the board can see without asking.
• Owner questions are answered directly, so they do not land on a director's doorstep.
• Bad news arrives early, with options, rather than at the next meeting.
None of this requires a large office. It requires a manager with a workload that leaves room to respond, and a company that treats responsiveness as part of the job rather than a courtesy.
Is responsive service something Ontario law expects of a condo manager?
Yes, in general terms. This is not legal advice, but generally speaking under Ontario law, section 5 of the Code of Ethics, O. Reg. 3/18 under the Condominium Management Services Act, 2015, says a licensee shall provide "conscientious, courteous and responsive service" and demonstrate reasonable knowledge, skill, judgment and competence.
What the law does not do is put a number on it. No Ontario statute says how many hours a manager has to reply to an email or return a call. That gap is exactly why the specifics belong in your management agreement. Section 48 (1) of the Condominium Management Services Act, 2015 requires a licensee to have a written contract governing its services and to provide services in accordance with it, so a standard written into that contract is one the manager has agreed to meet.
Which service standards should a London condo board put in writing?
Put in writing the standards your board actually feels day to day: how fast calls and emails are acknowledged, how open items are reported, and when reports and meeting packages arrive. If a standard only lives in a sales conversation, it cannot be measured later.
A short service schedule attached to the agreement can cover:
• Calls: how calls are answered during office hours and how quickly messages are returned.
• Emails from the board: a target time for acknowledgement, separate from the time to resolve.
• Owner requests: who answers them and how quickly, so directors are not the help desk.
• Open work orders: a regular status update on a set schedule, not only on request.
• Meeting packages and monthly financials: a fixed delivery date before each meeting and each month.
• After-hours issues: how an urgent problem reaches someone outside office hours.
Keep acknowledgement and resolution separate. A roof repair may take weeks to book, but confirming the request was received and explaining the next step should not. For what the monthly package itself should contain, read our guide: What Your Condo Management Company Should Be Reporting to You Monthly.
How can your board tell whether its manager is meeting those standards?
Use your own records. For a few months, have one director note the date each request went out and the date a real answer came back. The pattern usually becomes clear quickly, and it gives the board facts instead of impressions.
Then raise it at a regular meeting. Ask the manager how the company tracks its own response times, and whether it can share those figures with the board. A company that measures itself will have an answer ready. At Sapphire, for example, we track the share of calls answered and our email response time, and at the time of writing our website reports 88.2% of calls answered and email responses in under 90 minutes (Sapphire internal tracking).
If the numbers your board collects keep falling short, the steps for raising it formally are in our guide: Unresponsive Condo Manager: What Ontario Boards Should Do.
Slow answers often show up first in the financials, as late statements or questions about the numbers that never get a clear reply. If you would like a second opinion on your financial statements on us, you can request a free financial review at https://sapphirecondomgmt.ca/financial-review-on-us/.
Why does consistency year to year matter as much as speed?
Because a fast reply from a different person every few months is not real service. Boards in London Ontario and Sarnia Ontario tell us the same thing: what they want is a manager who answers, and the same standard of service year in and year out, so things simply get taken care of.
Consistency shows up in small ways. The manager knows the building's history, the contractors, and the questions owners asked last spring. The board does not have to re-explain the roof project or the reserve fund plan every time a new contact appears. Records stay in order because the same person has kept them.
This is not legal advice, but generally speaking under Ontario law, section 27 (1) of the Condominium Act, 1998 gives the board the job of managing the corporation's affairs, and section 37 (1) requires directors to act with the care, diligence and skill of a reasonably prudent person. Holding the manager to a written, consistent standard is part of doing that well. To score your manager across the wider job, see How to Benchmark Your Condo Management Company: What London and Sarnia Ontario Boards Should Measure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How quickly should a condo manager respond to the board in London Ontario?
A: Ontario law does not set a response time. The Code of Ethics, O. Reg. 3/18, section 5, requires responsive service, and the specific targets should be written into your management agreement. Many boards set a target for acknowledging requests that is separate from the time it takes to resolve them.
Q: Can our board add service standards to an existing management contract?
A: Usually yes, by agreement with the manager. Boards often raise it at renewal, when they have the most leverage. Our guide Your Condo Management Contract Is Up for Renewal: What London Boards Should Review covers what to look at before signing again.
Q: Is a slow-responding condo manager a breach of the Code of Ethics?
A: It can be part of one. This is not legal advice, but generally speaking under Ontario law, section 5 of O. Reg. 3/18 requires conscientious, courteous and responsive service. A documented pattern of unanswered requests is the kind of conduct a board can raise with the company and, if needed, with the CMRAO.
Related Reading
→ Unresponsive Condo Manager: What Ontario Boards Should Do
→ What Your Condo Management Company Should Be Reporting to You Monthly
→ How to Benchmark Your Condo Management Company: What London and Sarnia Ontario Boards Should Measure