10/08//2018 – Jurisdiction British Columbia
Part 63 published on 01/09/2018
On Appeal, Court varies order of Civil Resolution Tribunal in relation to inspection reports
The Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT) had decided certain disputes between the owners in this two-unit strata corporation. Among other things, the CRT’s decision included the following:
- (that) the strata become a member of the Condominium Home Owner’s Association (CHOA), with the owners to share the membership cost equally;
- (that) the parties may refer disputes to the CHOA and its decisions will be binding on the parties; and
- that the strata corporation was to arrange for annual inspections of each lot by a professional inspector, whereupon the strata corporation was to “implement the inspector’s recommendations”.
The CRT had also accepted into evidence a letter from a realtor; and there was a question as to whether or not the CRT had improperly accepted this “expert evidence”, contrary to its Rules.
One of the owners sought, and was granted, leave to appeal the CRT’s decision.
[See Condo Cases Across Canada, Part 61, January 2018.]
On the appeal, the B.C. Supreme Court held as follows:
On the “expert evidence” issue: The evidence in question (the letter from the realtor) was in fact not expert evidence at all, but rather was in the nature of a “lay opinion”. As such, Rule 110 of the CRT’s Rules was not engaged, and the Tribunal had properly accepted the evidence.
On the question of the “sub-delegation” of dispute resolution to CHOA: This error had been resolved by the CRT, by way of an amended Decision of the CRT. The Court said that: “Under the Amended Order, a strata owner may, at its discretion, refer a dispute to CHOA; any decision rendered, or opinion given by CHOA is non-binding; and, the parties are free to avoid CHOA altogether and put their dispute before a mutually-agreed upon third-party decision maker.”
On the question of the “annual inspections”: The Court varied this aspect of the CRT’s order, to make it clear that the inspector’s reports would simply be recommendations for consideration of the strata corporation, to be implemented only as the corporation deemed necessary and appropriate in fulfilment of its obligations.
The Owners, Strata Plan VR122 v. Bradbury (BC Court of Appeal) July 10, 2018