Part 53 published on 01/02/16
Court confirms strata corporation’s rights in relation to violation of by-laws; but reverses certain fines that were inconsistently charged against some owners but not others
The Court was asked to determine the validity of various chargebacks and fines imposed by the strata corporation against a particular owner.
The Court determined that the by-laws in question were valid, and had been violated by the respondent owner. The Court then made the following orders:
- The strata corporation was entitled to judgment in the amount of $17,467.74 plus interest for removal and storage costs incurred in relation to the owner’s contravention of the by-laws by leaving furniture and other items in front of the unit.
- The strata corporation was entitled to judgement for the fines levied in relation to the owner’s violation of the corporation’s signage by-law.
- The strata corporation was not entitled to judgement for the fines levied in relation to the owner’s failure to comply with the by-law requiring that owners be open for business, because the strata corporation’s levying of those fines had been “significantly unfair”.
The Court said:
While, as noted above, I do not accept the defendants’ contention that the obligation on the strata council to enforce the bylaws in s. 26 of the SPA meant that a council had no discretion from strict enforcement, a strata council’s discretion in determining appeals is limited and must be measured against the reasonable expectation of all owners that bylaws will be consistently enforced.
I find that the exemptions allowed by the strata council exceeded the discretion that the (strata corporation) had in respect of the enforcement of bylaws. I note that relatively few owners were fined and that the defendants and the developer owned units incurred the bulk of the fines. In contrast, the exemptions granted to other owners were excessively broad, ill-defined, and were inconsistent with the purpose of the bylaw.