Erin Berney

First Year of Call
Alberta, 2013

Areas of Practice
Condominium Law

Description
Erin Berney has extensive experience in all manner of residential and commercial condominiums, from traditional, bare land and phased-style development, to “barely blended”, duplex, mixed use, and rural developments, including foreign ownership issues. She has successfully litigated various matters on behalf of condominium corporations, unit owners and property management companies alike, including a precedent setting decision on short-term rentals in Alberta.
She has owned a condominium in the Oliver neighbourhood of Edmonton since 2005, and has served on her Board of Directors as Treasurer, Secretary and Chair of the Bylaw Review Committee. She is currently on the Board and serves as the Privacy Officer. This experience gives her unique insight and invaluable knowledge and experience that she can bring to her clients. She enjoys advising and assisting condominium corporations, developers, managers, boards, owners and tenants and helping them learn more about their rights and duties. Her focus is on education and trying to solve problems outside of court first and foremost, and she believes that this helps contribute to the overall goal of condominiums which is achieving fairness among all the owners.

Erin maintains a broad legal practice that includes general civil litigation but focuses on condominium law in Alberta, and in particular she has experience with the following:

Bylaw reviews, drafting, interpretation, amendments, and enforcement
Borrowing/loans and security
Property management, contract drafting and agreement reviews
Collection of condominium fees, charge-backs and fines
Foreclosures, liens, caveats, and priority disputes
Builder/developer/construction deficiencies
Tenancy-related issues and evictions
Leases, licenses and transfers of units/common property/common property units
Insurance claims
Privacy, video surveillance and security policies
Procedural issues and corporate governance
Planning, development and Land Titles Office registrations
Short-term accommodations and other uses
Before venturing into the field of law, Erin was a graphic designer at the Edmonton Journal newsroom for 10 years, and she managed the Canadian Literature Centre at the University of Alberta for four years, both of which she continued doing full-time through her three years of law school. She was also a student editor for the Alberta Law Review and was responsible for maintaining and updating its website.

Outside the Office

In her spare time, she enjoys reading a good book, playing golf, piano and guitar, and spending time with family, friends and her cat Quincy in her downtown condo.