01/04/2019 – Jurisdiction British Columbia
Part 66 published on 01/06/2019
Court orders owner to pay $5000 for contempt
The Civil Resolution Tribunal had previously ordered Ms Yu to stop renting her unit on a short-term basis in contravention of the by-laws of the strata corporation. Ms Yu appealed the Tribunal’s decision, and her appeal was dismissed. However, she had continued to rent her unit on a short-term basis and only stopped when these contempt proceedings were started against her on October 24, 2018.
In the contempt proceedings, the Court found that Ms Yu’s actions (in continuing to rent her unit on a short-term basis in contravention of the aforesaid orders) constituted contempt and levied a fine of $5000 against Ms Yu. The Court’s decision included the following:
This hearing requires that I determine the appropriate punishment for Ms. Yu’s contempt of court and also whether the strata corporation should now be granted conduct of sale of her unit.
…
I find that in all of the circumstances an appropriate fine for Ms. Yu’s contempt is $5,000. I am satisfied that such a fine is not too onerous notwithstanding her present claims of poverty. It must be recalled that her contemptuous actions were profit-motivated and a fine should not amount to a licence. As I told Ms. Yu, had she not complied with my order of October 24 since that date, I would likely have imposed a sentence of incarceration rather than a fine.
The Court declined, at this time, to order a sale of Ms Yu’s unit. The Court said:
Although such an order is open in cases such as this, as established in Bea v. Owners, Strata Plan LMS 2138, 2015 BCCA 31 (CanLII), it is in my view a remedy of last resort. Although Ms. Yu’s conduct is deserving of rebuke, the fact is that she has paid outstanding fines and has been compliant with the order of this court since October 24, 2018. Ms. Yu has been a very bad neighbour and has made life difficult for her neighbours and the strata corporation, but her conduct has not, in my view, yet reached a level that requires the sale of her unit with the conduct to the strata corporation.