06/04/2023 – Jurisdiction Alberta
Part 82 published on 01/06/2023
Condominium corporation locking owner out of unit was oppressive
The Plaintiff owned a unit in the condominium, and began renovations without necessary prior approval from the condominium corporation. The condominium corporation felt that the renovations were unsafe and locked the owner out of the unit for 18 days. The condominium corporation then restored the owner’s access to the unit and conditionally approved the renovations.
The Court held that the condominium corporation’s action of locking the owner out of the unit was oppressive. The Court said:
This type of self-help remedy is to be discouraged in the strongest possible terms. If the corporation could not persuade Polchil to stop work while the corporation satisfied itself that the situation was safe and under control, it should have gone to court to put its case before a judge and to seek an order to provide it with the necessary relief.
As a result, the Court ordered the condominium corporation to pay general damages of $10,000 and also relieved the owner of any obligation to pay legal costs incurred by the condominium corporation as a result of the owner’s failure to seek proper approval for the renovations.
The Court also considered whether or not the condominium corporation’s time taken to consider approval of the renovations (once a proper application for approval had been received from the owner) was oppressive. The Court held that there was no oppression in this regard.
The Plaintiff also purported to assert a claim against the condominium corporation for an alleged Human Rights Code violation against the principal of the Plaintiff company and her fiancé. The Court dismissed this claim “because an individual may not assign a claim under the Code to a corporation to be pursued in a civil proceeding”.
Polchil Homes Ltd. v. Peel Condominium Corporation No. 245, 2023 ONSC 2364