CRT Roundup—Limited common property, rental restrictions, responsibility to repair, unauthorized expenditures, chargebacks, and tribunal jurisdiction

This post is part of a monthly series summarizing the Civil Resolution Tribunal’s strata-property decisions. There have been 11 new decisions since the last post. Significant change in use or appearance of common property, rental restrictions, and second-hand smoke Wong v Section 1 of The Owners, Strata Plan N.W. 2320, 2017 BCCRT 25, was a wide-ranging decision that canvassed six issues concerning “rental permission and related strata fines and loss of rental income, replacement of balcony Read more…

BC Supreme Court: Short-term occupancy of strata lots under licenses not entitled to protection of Strata Property Act’s rental restriction grace period

HighStreet Accommodations Ltd v The Owners, Strata Plan BCS2478, 2017 BCSC 1039, concerned the application of rental restrictions to a strata-lot that was being used for short-term accommodation. The case came before the court as a pre-trial determination of a point of law. The court was asked to determine whether a tenant that was providing short-term accommodation to corporate clients in a residential strata-lot had the benefit of the grace period provided for in section Read more…

A closer look at the Report on Complex Stratas—should sections be retained or repealed?

This post is the first in a three-part series highlighting key recommendations in the Report on Complex Stratas (PDF). For other entries in the series, click here. One of the issues taken up in the report that heavily engaged the Strata Property Law Project Committee’s attention was whether to retain or repeal legislation enabling the creation of sections. The committee wrestled extensively with this issue, ultimately recommending that sections be retained. Here is a closer Read more…

BCLI calls for reforms to strata sections, types, and phases

In the Report on Complex Stratas (PDF), published today, the British Columbia Law Institute’s Strata Property Law Project Committee is calling for reforms to the Strata Property Act and the Strata Property Regulation to improve sections, types, and phases—the three tools used to manage legal issues arising from complex stratas. The report recommends 68 reforms, including: 29 recommendations on sections, which propose clarifying the procedures for creating and cancelling sections, spelling out section powers and duties, and Read more…

New coming-into-force dates announced for Ontario condo reforms

A report has surfaced in Ontario that the ministry of government and consumer services has announced new dates on which provisions of the Protecting Condominium Owners Act, 2015 (PDF), are projected to come into force. The Protecting Condominium Owners Act, 2015, is the fruit of a major law-reform initiative in Ontario. It significantly amends Ontario’s Condominium Act, 1998, establishes a new Condominium Management Regulatory Authority of Ontario, and creates a new Condominium Authority of Ontario and dispute-resolution Read more…