Flood repair: Why this condo owner had to pay strata fees for an uninhabitable unit
Canadian Underwriter (abridged)
by Greg Meckbach 28 August 2020
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.
Ye Yuan said that from September 2018 to February 2019, he had to move out of the strata unit he owned because it was undergoing repairs as a result of a flood. He did not initially pay the $1,466.10 strata fees for that period. He later paid those fees after the strata registered a lien against his unit, charging him an additional $500 in lien fees.
Yuan took the strata corporation to the CRT, seeking an order to reimburse him $1,466.10 in strata fees and to remove the $500 lien fee from his strata lot account. For its part, the strata corporation sought reimbursement from Yuan for its legal fees.
All claims were dismissed in the CRT’s ruling in Yuan v. The Owners, Strata Plan EPS 3982, released Aug. 21.
The strata corporation could not have waived Yuan’s strata fees even if it wanted to, CRT member Trisha Apland suggested. Neither the provincial Strata Property Act nor the strata’s own bylaw give the strata the discretion to waive or reduce fees. This applies even if an occupant has to leave to accommodate restoration.
Section 92 of the B.C. Strata Property Act stipulates the requirements for strata corporations to maintain operating and contingency reserve funds.
When a strata unit owner fails to pay those fees, the Strata Property Act stipulates the notice obligation for the strata corp. If a payment is not made within two weeks, the strata corporation may register a lien.
But she still declined to award the strata corporation’s $752.64 in legal expenses.
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Most condo owners don’t know just how expensive it can get if you have a fire or a major flood in your condo unit. It is far worse when a whole condo building is affected.
A small condo building on Keele Street in Vaughan, Ontario was burnt out out twice by discarded cigarette butts. On two different occasions people had to pay their monthly condo fees and mortgages plus the costs of living elsewhere while waiting for their condo building to be rebuilt.
Reading about their financial troubles will dispell forever any ideas you may have that condo living is a completely risk-free lifestyle.
Not convinced? Read the chapter in CondoMadness titled “When Disaster Strikes”.
—H. Marshall