17/02/2023 – Jurisdiction British Colombia
Part 83 published on 01/09/2023
Court grants petition for judicial review of a decision of the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal. Matter referred back to Tribunal for reconsideration
The B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal had dismissed the petitioners’ complaints about noise emanating from a neighboring unit in the strata corporation. In doing so, the Tribunal held that the strata corporation had properly investigated the complaints and had properly enforced its by-laws. The Tribunal also held that the strata corporation’s investigation process had been fair and reasonable.
The Court held that the Tribunal’s conclusions (noted above) were patently unreasonable, for the following reasons:
The Tribunal had relied on a factual finding that was not supported by the evidence before it, namely the finding that the strata corporation had provided the petitioners with contact information for the strata council members. [The petitioners were not given contact information for the current members of the strata council.]
- The Tribunal’s conclusion that the strata corporation had properly investigated the complaints was predicated on a misapprehension of the evidence.
- There was no “rational or tenable line of analysis for the CRT’s conclusion that the Strata properly enforced the Bylaws”.
- The Tribunal had determined that the noise was not unreasonable even though this issue was not before the Tribunal. This breached the Tribunal’s duty of procedural fairness in that this “deprived the petitioners of the opportunity to address the ultimate issue that the CRT determined against them and relied on in dismissing the dispute”.
The Court therefore granted the petition and remitted the matter back to the Tribunal for reconsideration.
WILLIAMS v. British Columbia (Civil Resolution Tribunal) – 2023 BCSC 239 – British Columbia