CCEL in the Media: World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2016

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) was launched on June 15, 2006 by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the World Health Organization at the United Nations.  It is a day for communities around the world to voice opposition, share information and spread awareness about the abuse and neglect of older adults. The Canadian Centre for Elder Law (CCEL) proudly celebrates WEAAD and was pleased to speak about the Elder Abuse Read more…

Newfoundland and Labrador condominium corporation fails to meet standard of honesty and good faith in imposing conditions on approval

Summer Services Ltd v Karwood Commercial Condominium Corp, 2016 CanLII 34954, a recent decision of the trial division of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, illustrates how a condominium corporation’s board of directors (the equivalent of a BC strata council) may fail to meet its statutory duties of honesty and good faith in responding to an owner’s request to approve a modification to a condominium unit (BC strata lot). The court found that it is Read more…

California Law Revision Commission makes tentative recommendations on builders liens and strata properties

As noted earlier this spring, the California Law Revision Commission is carrying out work on legal issues that arise from the intersection of builders-lien law and strata properties. The commission has just released its tentative recommendations for reform (PDF) of what California law calls mechanics liens in common-interest developments. At bottom, the legal issues for this topic flow from one of the distinctive aspects of the strata-property ownership model. In British Columbia, this quality can be seen Read more…

Ontario Superior Court considers cost sharing and responsibility for repairs in a mixed-use strata

In Middlesex Condominium Corp No 195 v Sunbelt, 2016 ONSC 1528, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice examined three issues that have raised concerns in British Columbia strata-property law as well. These issues are: (1) allocation of common expenses between commercial and residential strata lots in a mixed-use strata; (2) application of the Limitation Act to strata-property disputes; and (3) responsibility to repair windows. Facts and background The case involved “a seven-storey mixed-use (residential and commercial) Read more…

Legal Pluralist Law Reform

BCLI has recently participated in a number of discussions about the measurement and evaluation of law reform impact. Thinking about impact raises questions about the very nature of law reform. What is law reform and what does it achieve? Where do you find it? What does it look like? As part of that reflective process, our research assistant, Sebastian Ennis, came across an article by Dr. Roderick Macdonald, a prominent legal scholar and former President Read more…