Dear Tony:  Are strata corporations that are townhouses and bare-land strata permitted to adopt bylaws that limit rentals or Airbnbs? Our townhouse complex in Vernon received a circular from a neighbouring property that advised rental bylaws were not enforceable in a townhouse complex, but we cannot find any legislative changes or notices that verify this […]

Dear Tony:  I purchased a 12-year-old strata unit in Vancouver on October 15. My offer was submitted on September 15, and on my agent’s advice, I requested the normal documents of the strata corporation such as minutes and an information form that included the deprecation report and the parking and storage allocations. All the documents […]

Dear Tony: I purchased a 12-year-old strata unit in Vancouver on Oct. 15.  My offer was submitted Sept. 15 and on the advice of my agent, I requested the normal documents of the strata corporation, such as minutes and an information form that included the depreciation report and parking and storage allocations. All the documents […]

As Canadians carry on their love affair with condos, the number of units being built — and the rapid pace of their construction — have indirectly contributed to the severity of condo insurers’ claims costs, says a senior P&C insurance claims executive.   Read the article………………………………..

A tribunal has ordered a B.C. homeowner to stop using the hot tub on her patio for a while.  That is until Debra Balmer ensures that the bath is running quietly.  Balmer faced a complaint from her neighbour Thomas Westerby, who claimed that the noise from the hot tub disturbs him.    Read the article………………………………..

A B.C. man has managed to hold his strata’s property management company accountable after his bicycle was stolen from a storage locker in his building.  A Civil Resolution Tribunal decision Oct. 20, ordered the property management company to pay $730 to cover the cost of a new bicycle after it found the company had not […]

Q:  I’m selling my renovated condo suite and I’m being asked by a buyer for permits and records of the work done. What should I do?   Read the Q&A…………………………..

Question 1: I am on the board of our high-rise condominium building. The corporation’s insurance policy has come up for renewal. The quote on our new insurance policy is extremely expensive for our building. Our building has had a lot of water loss claims. To save costs, the board has decided to forego water loss […]

Owners in a Sherwood Park condo complex have been told they have until Nov. 16 to come up with more than $1 million for repairs.  Some residents of the 24-unit Forrest Grove complex at 49 Colwill Blvd. say that no matter how badly the repairs are needed, it’s too much money to come up with […]

Dear Tony:  Our strata manager has issued notice of our Annual General Meeting and advised their company will only do our AGM by restricted proxy. No one will be able to attend the meeting in person or electronically or be eligible to vote at the meeting. Many of us owners are not satisfied with this […]

A tribunal has ordered a B.C. condo owner to pay fines totalling $27,000.  Monica Copeland was found to have rented out her apartment without first securing the approval of the strata council in violation of the strata’s bylaws.    Read the article…………………………………

Condo owners at Fort McMurray’s Hillview Park complex are finally moving back home, four years after they were burned out in the Horse River wildfire.  The homeowners say they’re happy to be home, but the threat of bankruptcy still looms and there are some issues with the homes.    Read the article……………………………….

In June, a class action lawsuit filed by three purchasers of a cancelled Castlepoint Numa project in Toronto was settled in favour of the embattled developer, potentially setting a precedent for similar court cases in the future.    Read the article……………………………..

Phrases like “sky-high increases” have been used endlessly when talking about the rates people pay for auto insurance, but it’s starting to become just as applicable for the premiums paid by condo corporations.  Svend Demant, who has lived in the Green Briar community with his wife for several years, is president of one of the […]

Today, Minister of Justice Tracy-Anne McPhee tabled Bill No. 16, which would modernize the legislative framework and adopt best practices for condominium ownership and development in Yukon.  Proposed amendments to the Condominium Act, 2015 focus on balancing consumer protection with development and economic opportunities. These amendments bring clarity to how condominiums will be developed and […]

Dear Tony: We live in a 80 unit Strata complex in the B.C. interior. Most of the homes are Rancher style, 25 years old, and all have crawlspaces. The spaces are designated as “limited common property” on the developers blueprints. There is nothing related to crawlspaces in our strata bylaws. We are looking for clarification […]

Notably, the rapid rise in the cost of strata insurance experienced over the past year is not Canada wide, but rather a BC specific issue.  Granted, there have been mild cost escalations in other provinces—most notably Alberta—but nothing on the scale experienced in BC. The issue escalated rapidly and has become all the more pronounced […]

Should the B.C. government, as it attempts to grapple with soaring condo premiums, consider stepping into the property insurance business itself?  The possibility is mentioned briefly in the B.C. NDP’s 2020 campaign platform, but the idea has its critics.    Read the article……………………………

Q: We have an owner who moved into our building five years ago, knowing there are five stairs at our front entry and three stairs to walk up into our games room. Since her residency, her health condition has changed, and she can no longer easily manage stairs and requires assistance every time she enters […]

A judge has ordered the owners of a 40-unit residential complex in Coquitlam to pay a $5.3-million special levy for leak repairs after the strata failed to take appropriate action to deal with the problem.  The owners of homes at Garden Terrace on Cochrane Avenue, each of whom will be facing bills ranging from $100,000 […]

The Town of Collingwood is keeping its bylaw preventing gates for condominium communities.  Condo owners from Lighthouse Point petitioned council earlier this month to reverse the town bylaw and allow them to put a gate at the entrance of their community.    Read the article………………………………

Lethbridge City Council approved the motion to draft bylaw amendments that would exempt large condominiums to recycle through the city at this week’s city council meeting(Monday, Sept. 21).  Large condos over 45 units could be exempt from mandatory participation in the City-run blue bin program as long as they have a private recycling plan in […]

Dear Tony: To what extent does a strata corporation have to go to accommodate an owner who has an accessibility issue in an older building? We have an owner who moved into our building five years ago knowing there are five stairs at our front entry and three stairs to walk up into our games […]

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ordered condo owners in a mixed-use Burnaby highrise to pay more than $1.3 million in unpaid shared building costs plus interest to its commercial neighbour.    Read the article……………………………..

With no signage to inform drivers about what lane to use on Skymark Drive, there’s a lot of horn-honking going on.  The situation at the T intersection of Skymark and Finch Avenue, near Don Mills Road, is unique, and leaves some drivers trying to figure out why others aren’t getting out of their way.    […]

From a late father’s art, to fine Italian furniture, to cremated remains, three people say more than $225,000 in personal possessions have been wrongfully taken from Metro Vancouver strata complexes in three separate incidents.  And the three properties share at least one thing in common: they are managed by AWM Alliance Real Estate Group.   Read […]

A Vancouver Island wheelchair user who has spent years asking her strata for changes to make it possible to go to and from her condo safely and without help from friends has won $35,000 in damages and an order for action on her complaints.   Read the article…………………………….

Dear Tony: Our strata corporation held its annual general meeting electronically last week. Other than routine business of the budget and council elections we adopted a new bylaw to permit electronic meetings in the future.  There was an issue that was raised by several owners, however, in how the votes were counted. The president of […]

“You need to figure out where you’re going to stay. You have no home.”  Sara Chung vividly remembers the words of a Richmond firefighter more than a year ago, spoken a few hours after his crew had secured the aftermath of a massive gas explosion at a Steveston condo complex.     Read the article…………………………………

The B.C. government has announced regulatory changes aimed at bringing more transparency to condo insurance premiums that have risen by as much as 40 per cent.  The Finance Ministry says effective Nov. 1, insurers or insurance agents will be required to give 30 days’ notice to condo or “strata” corporations if they intend not to […]

Community developers are building grand lifestyle centres, elaborate all-ages playgrounds and interactive parks in many of Calgary’s new neighbourhoods, attracting new home buyers of all stripes. The goal is to sell houses, but these amenities profit residents by promoting wellness, providing points of connection and increasing property values.       Read the article………………………….

Dear Tony: Our strata corporation renewed our insurance for Sept. 1 and while we did not have the dramatic increases in costs experienced by many of our neighbours, we were very concerned about our policy as we did not have notice of renewal of costs until five days prior to our deadline.    Read the Q&A………………………………….

The Condo Owners Society of Alberta is following the recycling issue in Lethbridge with great interest.  In our experience, condominiums in the province are often expected to foot a disproportionate amount of the costs of utilities and services simply because they are permitted to do so within their powers under the Municipal Government Act. While […]

Dear Tony:  Is there any relief in sight for insurance renewals?  Our strata corporation is being faced with a re-piping issue and wonder to what extent we should leave the replacement of the individual unit piping up to owners.    Read the Q&A……………………………..

A British Columbia resident who had to move out for nearly six months for flood restoration work still has to pay his monthly fees to the strata corporation, the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal has ruled.   Read the article…………………………..

A Burnaby townhouse owner who rented out her unit in violation of her strata’s bylaws has won a partial victory over her strata council.  Chuhui Shen owns a three-storey townhouse at Deerfield at 7501 Cumberland Street in East Burnaby, according to a recent Civil Resolution Tribunal ruling.    Read the article……………………………

With administration set to give recommendations for Wood Buffalo’s flood mitigation strategy next month, residents in Fort McMurray’s Longboat Landing are in a rush to convince the municipality to buy out the neighbourhood.  Longboat Landing is a collection of condominium complexes on the south end of downtown. There are 260 homes in the area, with […]

Dear Tony: Can a strata corporation adopt bylaws for the common property that establishes behaviour patterns that are beyond nuisance or normal circumstances?  Our strata corporation held an information meeting a week ago regarding the use of our facilities to determine what measures we can take to enable the opening of our clubhouse and outdoor […]

A judge with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) has given the new owner of the Clover condos and two separate groups of unit purchasers two more weeks to negotiate an agreement on how much the pre-construction purchasers will pay to retain the units they agreed to buy five years ago.     Read […]

It’s been a long road for Riverview Estates condo owners in Fort Saskatchewan.  In August 2019, one of the two buildings had to be evacuated after engineers found it to be structurally unsound.  A year later, a majority of condo owners voted to do the repairs, which is expected to cost $4 million.    Read the […]

Q:  We have two council members who have created friction with our property manager and are now questioning their integrity because they have sole signing authority on our trust funds.  Should our strata corporation be concerned about the management of the trust funds and the lack of scrutiny over the cheques that are issued, or […]

A report was given to city council on Monday night on how the city is addressing concerns from the residence in the Iron Bridge sub-division over maintenance in the area.   Read the article………………………..