December 14, 2017

BC Human Rights Tribunal allows complaint based on language of strata meetings to proceed

Wellington Court is a strata property consisting of 54 residential strata lots located in Richmond. A majority of “the owners at Wellington Court are of Asian descent,” and “a significant number of the owners are Mandarin speakers as their first language with some having a limited facility in English.” Since 2015, Wellington Read more…

December 13, 2017

BC Supreme Court grants leave to appeal CRT decision in dispute over upkeep of duplex strata property

In McKnight v Bourque, 2017 BCSC 2280, the Supreme Court of British Columbia considered an application for leave to appeal a decision of the Civil Resolution Tribunal. The application proceeded under section 56.5 of the Civil Resolution Tribunal Act. Leave was granted on five of the eleven grounds sought. The underlying dispute “relates Read more…

December 11, 2017

Strata corporation’s decision not to redo exterior-wall treatment wasn’t significantly unfair to owner

In Chan v The Owners, Strata Plan BCS 0856, 2017 BCSC 2240, a strata-lot owner asked the BC Supreme Court for “a declaration that a February 24, 2014 decision of the strata council of the building in which she resides is significantly unfair to her, an order setting aside the decision, Read more…

December 8, 2017

Strata corporation and strata-lot owner ordered to split the cost of replacing flood-damaged hardwood floor

In an appeal of an unreported provincial-court decision, the BC Supreme Court has ordered that it would be “just” for a strata corporation to be “held liable for 55% of the costs charged by the contractor for demolition and replacement of the hardwood flooring in the appellant’s unit, less a deduction Read more…

November 30, 2017

BC Court of Appeal clarifies meaning of “habitable area” of a residential strata lot

In Barrett v The Owners, Strata Plan LMS3265, 2017 BCCA 414, the BC Court of Appeal allowed an appeal from a decision of a trial judge, affirming an earlier case’s conclusion that “ ‘habitable area’ means ‘that area within a residential strata lot which can, could or is capable of being lived in Read more…