It’s summertime and a lot of businesses (particularly smaller ones) take this time of year to slow down a little; senior staff like to take some well-deserved time off, people are generally harder to get ahold of, and this is the time that a lot of reorganization work is done. One thing in particular that we find happening a lot in summer months is office moving.
In addition to the headaches associated with the physical move (our last office move was less than 100 meters and still took months to plan), there are some legal compliance issues to keep in mind.
A Notice of Change must be filed with the Ministry of Government services within 15 days of the move. The notice must be accurate with respect to all information about the corporation, and there are significant penalties under the Corporations Information Act for getting it wrong. This needs to be prompt and perfect.
If the corporation is moving within the municipality, then a resolution of the Directors has to be passed and recorded in the corporation’s minute book. If the corporation is moving outside of the municipality, then a special resolution of the shareholders needs to be passed. Depending on the composition of your business, this could require a special meeting to be held. Failure to get this right could result in penalties under the Business Corporations Act.
Summertime – where the livin’ is easy, but the compliance requirements never sleep.
Scott R. Young