STRATA LAW INFORMATION

SESSION

Presented by Vivienne Stewart, B.A., J.D., LL.M

Burnaby Public Library, November 14, 2016

Rights and Obligations of a Strata

Owner/Tenant

• Follow and comply with your Strata’s bylaws and rules, if the Strata

has rules.

• Bylaws govern strata lots & common property (including limited

common property & common assets).

• Rules only govern common property (including limited common

property & common assets).

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What Happens if Rules and

Bylaws are Inconsistent?

• If a rule is inconsistent with a bylaw, the bylaw will govern.

• If a rule appears to govern a strata lot, it is invalid.

• No bylaw or rule is enforceable to the extent that it contravenes the

Strata Property Act, the regulations, the Human Rights Code (except

age restrictions bylaws in certain cases) or any other enactment or

law.

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Being a Good Neighbour…

Dispute Resolution Techniques

• Have a non-confrontational discussion:

• Ask open-ended questions.

• Find out more information.

• Ask council or a council member to mediate the dispute.

• Look for a resolution through the Civil Resolution Tribunal’s (CRT)

online Solution Explorer platform.

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Dispute Resolution Techniques…

If You Need to Escalate

• Make a complaint to council about someone else’s violation of a

bylaw or rule.

• Remind council members of their duty to enforce the bylaws.

• Council may give the offender a warning, time to comply, and then,

follow the enforcement procedures in the bylaws, including imposing

fines.

• Council is also entitled to use the services of the CRT: negotiation,

facilitation, adjudication (binding decisions).

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Enforcing Bylaws (1)

• Bylaws passed and amended by a ¾ vote of the owners (rules are

created by the strata council and ratified by majority vote of the

owners – they must be in writing and capable of being photocopied).

• Bylaw amendments have no effect until they are filed in the land titles

office (rules generally take effect immediately and continue once they

are ratified).

• Strata council has no discretion to choose not to enforce a bylaw.

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Enforcing Bylaws (2)

• Standard Bylaw 20(4) – the strata council may not

delegate its powers to determine: whether a person has

violated a bylaw or rule, whether the person should be

fined, the amount of the fine, or whether the person

should be denied access to the strata gym, pool or other

facility. Unless the Strata has amended this bylaw, it is not

appropriate to delegate these decisions to the strata

manager.

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Enforcing Bylaws (3)

• Council may decide to fine an owner or tenant for violating a bylaw

or rule. An owner or tenant may also be held responsible for

violations by their guest(s) or some other occupant of their strata lot.

• In exercising their discretion to enforce a bylaw, council must be

reasonable and fair.

• If it is a council member who is personally involved, that council

member must fully disclose his/her involvement and leave the

meeting before the matter is discussed or voted on by council.

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Enforcing Bylaws (4)

• Once council determines that there has been a contravention of a

bylaw, council should invoke the Act’s enforcement procedures – before

doing so, council may give a person a warning or time to comply.

• The Strata may do what is reasonably necessary to remedy a

contravention of a bylaw or rule, including doing work on a strata lot,

common property or common assets and removing objects from the

common property or common assets.

• The Strata may require the person responsible to pay the Strata’s

reasonable costs of remedying the contravention.

• If the person refuses access, the Strata may obtain a court order

(take the peaceful, albeit lengthier route).

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Enforcing Bylaws

The Rules of Natural Justice• The rules of natural justice will apply to enforcement and are set out

in the Act:

• The person accused of the contravention must be notified with the

particulars of the complaint (excluding personal information of third

parties)

• The person must be given an opportunity to attend before council

and to be heard.

• The person is also entitled to a written decision.

• The steps outlined above must be followed before the Strata can

impose a fine (refer to s.135).

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Enforcing Bylaws

Fines

• The maximum amount an owner or tenant may be fined is usually set out

in the bylaws.

• If not, the standard bylaws set maximums at $50 for each bylaw

contravention and $10 for each rule contravention.

• The maximum amount and frequency is capped in the regulations -

$200 for each contravention of a bylaw, every 7 days.

• The maximum amount for contravening the rental bylaw is $500 for

each contravention.

• If aggregate amount of fines is substantial, the courts may not award

the full amount.

• The purpose of fines is to discourage violations, not to correct, remedy

or cure violations.

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Council Members’ Duties and

Responsibilities

• The Act sets out the standard of care that a strata council member

has to meet, including enforcing the bylaws and rules.

• Must act honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of

the strata corporation.

• Must exercise the care, diligence and skill of a reasonably prudent

person in comparable circumstances.

• Tips for council members:

• Read and be familiar with your bylaws and rules.

• Become familiar with other resources available to assist with

making the appropriate decisions and meeting members’ duties.

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Role of the Property Manager (1)

• Stratas often hire property management companies to assist in the

management and administration of the Strata’s business.

• Strata manager is licensed and is bound by the provisions of the Real

Estate Service Act and the Real Estate Council Rules. They are

generally not lawyers and not entitled to give legal advice.

• Council delegates some duties and responsibilities to the strata

manager by contract.

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Role of the Property Manager (2)

• Council members must be aware that it is the council that instructs

and directs the strata manager, not the other way around.

• A strata manager must advise the council to obtain independent

professional advice on matters outside the expertise of the strata

manager.

• The role of the strata manager is to help to manage the property and

no more.

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Strata Managers…

What to Watch Out For

• A council must be wary of a strata manager who seems to be making

decisions for council and then persuading council to agree.

• A council must also question the advice of a strata manager when

dealing with violations, enforcement and fines.

• Council has a great deal of power which it should be careful not to

abuse and not to allow the strata manager to abuse.

• When in doubt – use your common sense, put yourself in the other

person’s shoes, and act in a fair and reasonable manner.

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Insurance Obligations (1)

• All owners and tenants should have insurance covering their property

and liabilities not covered by the Strata’s policy.

• If there is a water leak that occurs from pipes within your unit (or

your tub or shower, etc.), and it causes damage to someone else’s

unit or to the common property, your insurance will have to pay for

it.

• Often disputes arise over what causes a leak and where it was

located.

• If in the walls between units or between a unit and common

property, Strata should be responsible.

• Pinhole leaks in older pipes often cause problems.

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Insurance Obligations (2)

• If you replace or alter something within your unit that causes damage

to someone else’s strata lot or to the common property, you will be

responsible so it’s prudent to have coverage for this.

• It’s in your best interest to take a look at your Strata’s insurance

coverage and to know what the deductibles are.

• Many Stratas now have deductibles for water damage that are well

over $10,000, which means that claims below this amount will be

the owner’s responsibility.

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Rentals

• Many Stratas have rental restriction bylaws which:

• Prohibit rentals.

• Limit the number of percentage of strata lots that may be rented or

• Limit the period of time a residential strata lot may be rented.

• Rental prohibition bylaws do not apply to any residential strata lot until

either one year after the expiry of an existing residential tenancy, or

one year after the date the bylaw was passed, whichever is later.

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Rentals

Hardship Exemptions (1)

• The Act provides an exemption from these kinds of bylaws on the ground that

the bylaw causes hardship to an owner.

• The owner has to apply in writing and state:

• The reason the owner thinks the strata lot should be exempt; and

• Whether the owner wants to have a hearing.

• The strata must hold the hearing within 4 weeks after the date the hardship

application is given to the Strata – a hearing is in person at a council meeting.

• If the strata fails to meet the deadline, the owner is automatically entitled to

rent the unit out.

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Rentals

Hardship Exemptions (2)

• After a hearing, the Strata must provide its decision in writing within

one week of the date of the hearing or the owner is allowed to rent.

• If the owner does not ask for a hearing, the Strata has to give its

written decision within 2 weeks after the application is given to the

Strata or the owner is allowed to rent.

• The Strata may limit the period of the exemption as part of its

decision but it must not unreasonably refuse to grant the exemption.

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What Constitutes Undue Hardship?

• Depends on the facts and circumstances of each situation.

• The inability to sell, is not on its own, hardship.

• Consideration is given to the following:

• Unable to get insurance because unit is vacant.

• High cost of property management.

• Substantial decrease in sale value because of new rental ban and

value of unit is all or substantially all of the owner’s assets.

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Civil Resolution Tribunal (1)• The Solution Explorer is a self-help tool and provides free legal

information and problem diagnosis.

• Intelligent questionnaire that provides templates of letters you can

send to the Strata or that the Strata can send to owners or tenants –

designed for specific problems.

• One of the first steps to take before actually filing a CRT claim is to

ask for a hearing from the strata council – template letters are

available for download.

• If hearing with strata council doesn’t work, you can start a dispute -

$125 fee to file your claim.

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Civil Resolution Tribunal (2)• Only an owner or a tenant can make a claim, not an occupant.

• CRT notifies opposing party of claim. Then the parties attempt to

negotiate a solution to their dispute.

• If negotiation fails, facilitation is the next step. A CRT facilitator gets

involved to try to help the parties reach an agreement. (Agreements

can be turned into orders which have the same power as court

orders.)

• If facilitation fails, an independent CRT member will make a decision

based on information provided by both sides. The decision is

enforceable like a court order.

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