Frequently asked questions
The questions we get asked, and what we answer.
Getting Started
How does the free trial work?
60 days, no credit card. Every Kohabit feature is open from the moment you sign up. When the trial ends, you choose whether to subscribe to keep going, and you can export your data at any time.
Do I need to install an app?
No. Kohabit runs in your browser, on a computer or a phone. Nothing to install, for you or for your co-owners.
How long does it take to set up Kohabit?
About ten minutes. You create your condo, enter the units and their voting shares, then invite your co-owners by email. The maintenance log and the budget get set up later, when you need them.
Do all my co-owners need to sign up before I can get started?
No. You can start using Kohabit on your own, as a volunteer board member. Your co-owners do not need to create an account to receive announcements and participate in votes: everything works by email. An account opens their personal space, but nothing obliges them to create one.
How do I invite my co-owners?
From your dashboard, click Invite a resident. Kohabit sends an invitation email to each of them. They can vote, receive announcements and consult documents without ever creating an account, simply by replying to the emails they receive.
Can I import my existing Excel data?
For now, data entry is manual. Kohabit is designed so that initial setup is fast: entering units, voting shares and co-owners takes about ten minutes. Your documents can be imported from OneDrive.
Features
Do my co-owners need to create an account?
No. Co-owners receive announcements, vote and reply to discussions directly by email, without creating an account. Creating an account is optional: it opens their personal space, with the condo's finances, its documents and the history of past votes. Nothing requires a co-owner to sign up.
Can tenants use Kohabit?
Yes. You can invite tenants with limited rights: they receive announcements that concern them and can submit maintenance requests, but they have no access to votes, finances or the syndicate's confidential documents.
How does weighted voting work?
When creating a vote, Kohabit automatically weights each ballot according to the share of the common expenses set for each unit. Quorum updates as the votes come in, and stays on screen for the whole ballot. Co-owners vote from their email, with no login. The complete history of every vote is archived and accessible at any time.
How do I run a general meeting in Kohabit?
You send the notice of meeting with its agenda, you open advance voting, then you run the sitting item by item: quorum, proxies and majorities recompute as you go, and the minutes are pre-drafted when you close. The live general meeting page walks through the six steps, screen by screen.
How does maintenance tracking work?
A co-owner or a tenant reports an issue from the app or by email. The request is categorized (plumbing, electrical, common areas, elevator), assigned to a board member, and tracked with a comment thread and attached photos. Each update lets the person who reported it know. The board sees at a glance which requests are open, in progress and resolved.
How do I manage the condo budget?
The budget lets you plan your annual expenses by category (maintenance, insurance, reserves), automatically calculate each unit's contribution from its share of the common expenses, and generate periodic assessments. Each co-owner can check their balance and download their receipts. The board sees the list of payments and balances.
What is the community idea board?
The idea box lets every co-owner propose improvements for the building, vote for or against what others put forward, and follow where it goes. A popular idea can be converted into an official vote with one click. It is a way to involve your co-owners without calling another meeting.
Does Kohabit work on mobile?
Yes. Kohabit is fully optimized for mobile screens via your web browser. No app to download: you access every feature from Safari or Chrome on your phone. For those who would rather not open a browser, everything also works by email.
Can I manage bookings for common areas?
Yes. Common areas are booked in Kohabit: the community room, visitor parking, the gym, any shared space in your building. Everyone sees what is free and books it from Kohabit.
Does Kohabit offer a shared calendar?
Yes. The calendar gathers every event for your condo: board meetings, annual general meetings, maintenance days, common area bookings. Each co-owner can open the calendar from their space, or get events by email.
What financial reports can I generate?
Kohabit's accounting gives you your condo's financial state: budgets by fiscal year, assessment tracking, payments received, and balances per co-owner. You can read it at any time, export it for your accountant, and present it at the annual general meeting.
Legal Compliance
How does Kohabit help with the maintenance log?
Bill 16 (An Act to amend the Civil Code and other legislative provisions concerning divided co-ownership) requires Quebec condo boards to keep a maintenance log and to conduct a contingency fund study before August 2028. Kohabit keeps the maintenance log required by Bill 16: you record each job with date, supplier, cost and notes, by building component. The log exports as a PDF whenever you need it, for the meeting or for a buyer. The notary asks for the syndicate certificate, which Kohabit also generates. Read our complete guide to Bill 16.
Does the contingency fund calculator replace an official study?
No. The calculator available on Kohabit is an indicative estimation tool, intended to help volunteer boards understand the order of magnitude of the required contributions. The contingency fund study must be done by an engineer, chartered appraiser, architect, professional technologist or CPA, a member of their order and independent from the syndicate. Kohabit's calculator is a starting point, not a legal document.
What does Law 25 change for a syndicate?
Law 25 puts the obligations on the syndicate, not on its vendor. The syndicate appoints the person in charge of the protection of personal information, keeps an accessible privacy policy, logs incidents, and answers access or deletion requests within thirty days. On its side, Kohabit collects the minimum, sells nothing on, and hosts in Beauharnois, Québec. Our Law 25 guide walks through the six obligations. This is not legal advice: talk to a professional about your own situation.
Why host condo data in Canada?
Most popular collaboration tools (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox) are hosted on American servers, subject to the U.S. CLOUD Act. This law allows U.S. authorities to access data stored by American companies, regardless of where the servers are physically located. For a Quebec condo board, this means that the names, addresses and financial information of your co-owners may be accessible to foreign third parties. Kohabit hosts all of its data exclusively on Canadian servers, subject only to Quebec law.
Is Kohabit subject to the U.S. CLOUD Act?
Kohabit itself is not: it is a Canadian company, and your data is stored in Beauharnois, Québec, with OVH Hosting Inc., a Canadian entity. The U.S. CLOUD Act targets American companies and their subsidiaries. Two passages worth knowing: the site's traffic goes through Cloudflare, an American company, which protects it from attacks, and notification emails go out through a sending provider. One exception, which your board turns on itself: the OneDrive integration, which copies your documents to Microsoft.
Pricing and Data
How much does Kohabit cost?
The price is $2.99 CAD per door per month, or $29.90 per door per year (2 months free). The amount is capped: never more than $79 a month, or $790 a year, however many doors you have. Every feature is included, with no hidden fees. The 60-day free trial lets you test everything before you commit. See the full pricing details.
What is a door?
A door is an address: a home or a commercial unit. A parking spot or a storage space on its own lot does not count.
Are there any hidden fees?
No. The per-door price covers access to every feature: votes, documents, budget, maintenance and the maintenance log. There is no separate paid add-on and no setup fee.
Can I cancel at any time?
Yes. There is no minimum commitment. Your data exports as one archive: the register as JSON, the accounting and maintenance log as CSV, and your documents as they are.
What happens to my data if I stop?
It stays yours. The archive holds the register as JSON, the accounting and maintenance log as CSV, and your documents as they are. No data is deleted without your explicit consent. If you cancel, nothing is erased: your data stays, and so does the export. It is erased only if the board asks for the condo to be deleted, 90 days after that request is accepted, and the board can cancel it until then.
Does any data leave Canada?
Your data is stored in Beauharnois, Québec, with OVH Hosting Inc. One exception, which you turn on yourself: the OneDrive integration, which copies your documents to Microsoft. It is off by default. Your data is neither resold nor shared with third parties.
Support and what is planned
Does Kohabit replace a professional condo manager?
No. Kohabit is designed for self-managed condo boards run by volunteers who do not want (or cannot) hire a professional manager. It brings routine administrative tasks together in one place. For more complex condo boards with many units or significant legal issues, a professional manager remains the better option. Kohabit can still complement their work, by bringing communication with co-owners and tenants together in one place.
How can I contact support?
By email at info@kohabit.ca. You can also use the Feedback button in the app, bottom left.
Can I request a feature?
Yes, and that is how Kohabit moves forward. Use the Feedback button in the app, or write to info@kohabit.ca. What gets built next comes largely from the syndicates using it every day.
Try it with your condo.
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