Richard E. Olschewski v. 520 Portage Avenue Ltd. (Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba)

When the plaintiff agreed to purchase his condominium unit, the unit was shown as having 1,824 square feet.  However, it appeared that this square footage was based on the following assumptions: 

• The balcony should be included as part of the unit;
• The open space on the second level of the unit should be included in the square footage calculation; and
• The boundaries of the unit should be treated as the centre line of the dividing stud walls between units and the outer face of the exterior wall. 

The Court said that the actual square footage of the unit was approximately 1,500 square feet, based upon the following: 

• The balcony should not be treated as part of the unit (because it was not part of the unit as shown on the registered condominium plan).
• The open space on the second level should not be treated as part of the unit square footage.
• The unit boundaries (for purpose of calculating the square footage of the unit) should be the unit boundaries shown on the registered condominium plan (and described in the condominium declaration).

 As a result, the purchaser was entitled to an appropriate abatement or reduction of the purchase price.