Clarke v. The Owners Strata Plan VIS770 (Supreme Court of British Columbia)

There were various disagreements between the owners of this eight-unit strata corporation.  The petitioners sought to invalidate a contested strata Council election because of denial of proxy votes of two owners.  The petitioners also sought the appointment of an administrator to manage the strata corporation.

Although the Court agreed that the strata Council’s actions were significantly unfair (in refusing to accept the particular proxy votes), the Court declined to invalidate the election for the following reasons: 

• ·        There was no bad faith;
• ·        The proxy votes would not have changed the results of the election; and
• ·        Over one year had passed between the date of the disputed election and the commencement of the petition. 

The Court did, however, agree to appoint an administrator because of the “highly dysfunctional state of affairs”.