Ontario Superior Court Rules on the Capacity to Marry

In December 2017, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled on Hunt v Worrod, 2017 ONSC 7397 (Hunt), wherein the family of a man suffering from a brain injury sought annulment of what the media called a “predatory marriage.” Mr. Hunt was injured in an ATV accident, causing serious brain injury and an 18-day coma. In connection to the accident, he stood to receive a settlement totalling over one million dollars. Three days after his return Read more…

BCLI invites the public to have its say on proposals for strata governance

With the publication today of its Consultation Paper on Governance Issues for Stratas, the British Columbia Law Institute’s Strata Property Law Project Committee is asking the public for its views on proposed reforms to the Strata Property Act, the Strata Property Regulation, and the Schedule of Standard Bylaws to address pressing governance issues for strata corporations. The consultation paper has 83 tentative recommendations for reform, which touch on a wide range of subjects including: strata-corporation Read more…

BC Supreme Court holds that strata-property nuisance dispute is within the Civil Resolution Tribunal’s jurisdiction

In a dispute that the court characterized as “extraordinarily heavy weather . . . made out of a common residential noise complaint,” the Supreme Court of British Columbia has dismissed an application under section 12.3 of the Civil Resolution Tribunal Act for an order that it wasn’t in the interests of justice and fairness that the Civil Resolution Tribunal resolve a strata-property claim. Background to the application The parties in Yas v Pope, 2018 BCSC 282, were involved in Read more…

Scottish Law Commission Publishes Three-Volume Report on Moveable Transactions

On December 19, 2017, the Scottish Law Commission (SLC) published a three-volume Report on Moveable Transactions. It recommends the substantial reform of Scots moveable transactions law, which the news release calls “badly outdated, unclear, and unduly restrictive.” “Moveables” in Scots law is a class of property largely analogous to personal property in the English common law system, describing property which is neither land, nor attached to land. The SLC says reform in this area is Read more…

CRT Roundup—strata fees, rental restrictions, bylaw enforcement, and nuisance

This post is part of a monthly series summarizing the Civil Resolution Tribunal’s strata-property decisions. There have been eight new decisions since the last post. Governance—finances—strata fees—catch-up payment The Owners, Strata Plan NW 2729 v Haddow, 2018 BCCRT 37, was a dispute between “a 36-unit strata corporation located in Mission” and two strata-lot owners. The applicant strata corporation claimed: the respondents have not paid a shortfall in monthly strata fees for the months of January and February Read more…