June « 2007 « Les Twarog Vancouver Real Estate and Condo Blog

Archive for June, 2007

Hot dogs, Japanese style

Thursday, June 14th, 2007

Mia Stainsby
Sun

Noriki Tamura offers up one of his Japadogs to customer Tandi Mkangwana. Photograph by : Stuart Davis, Vancouver Sun

Gwen Stefani went nuts for the Harajuku Girls and their Japanese take on hip. On Burrard Sreet, Noriki Tamura’s doing a Japanese take on hot dogs.

They’re as strange as a Harajuku school girl, but hey, we’re a country that got addicted to the once-foreign sushi.

And the lineups at lunch and dinner to the little cart are mostly for the hot dogs loaded with Japanese condiments, although standard North American hot dogs — turkey, bratwurst, bavarian, jalapeno and cheese and veggie — are sold here, too.

Those straying into new hot dog territory have a choice of Misomayo, a turkey dog with Japanese mayo, kaiware (sprouted daikon seeds) and miso sesame; or Oroshi, with bratwurst, onion, daikon radish and soy; or Terimayo (beef sausage) with Japanese mayo, teriyaki sauce, fried onions and nori sprinkles. I sampled the Terimayo and Oroshi and strangely, I liked the departure from same-old, same-old.

The Oroshi is loaded with grated daikon and it’s a messy feed, especially as it’s hard to find a spot to eat with dignity — it’s adjacent to a construction zone. You might want to turn the corner onto Smithe, find the one bench at the end of the street, sit, and eat in full view of Le Crocodile. Big difference between you and the Le Croc patron is, you’ll be paying $5 tops for the dog.

Hot dogging owner Tamura has plans to expand into a cart-el and his previous experience in the franchise consulting business should help with his expansion plans. He sells about 200 hot dogs a day. “Sometimes 300,” he says in broken English.

Asked if there’s more men or women at his stand, he responds: “Hmmmm,” thinking deeply. “Both,” he says. “Men and women.”

I assume the photo of rapper Ice Cube eating a Japadog means he was one of his male customers.

For those who don’t want to stand on Burrard, being a sight for Burrard traffic, he’s got takeout containers so you can take your hot dog, Japanese style or not, and scurry away.

– – –

JAPADOG

Burrard Street at Smithe. Open noon to 7:30 p.m. but might be MIA on extremely rainy days.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

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Hapa Izakaya finds its way into Kitsilano

Thursday, June 14th, 2007

New location is more laid-back than downtown, serving the same delicious menu items at reasonable prices

Mia Stainsby
Sun

Justin and Lea Ault recently opened their second Hapa Izakaya in Kitsilano. The first, an all-out success story, opened on Robson Street four years ago. Photograph by : Peter Battistoni, Vancouver Sun

When I reach Justin Ault on his cellphone, he’s plane-hopping in Hawaii. While there, he was reminded –as many travellers are — of Vancouver’s restaurant prowess.

He and wife, Lea, who run Vancouver’s Hapa Izakaya, had checked out Hawaii’s best restaurants only to be reminded of how good they have it back home.

“When you pay $42 for an entree, you expect something pretty good but we find it’s over-priced. We’ve yet to be wowed. We’ve paid $150 for a meal that we’d pay $75 for in Vancouver and enjoyed it more back home. The fact that it’s a tourist destination is no excuse,” he says.

The Aults recently opened their second Hapa Izakaya. The first, an all-out success story, opened on Robson Street four years ago, one of the first hip izakayas where there’s no sushi or tempura to be seen; instead, there’s a lot of creative, small plate dishes, styled after the casual after-work beer with some food spots in Japan. Their new one is in Kits, joining a chic boomlet of new restaurants like Fuel, Gastropod and Bistrot Bistro. It’s in a step-down space done up in dark browns and blacks. Energetic vibes and music rescue it from gloom.

The izakaya idea bided its time before its recent burst on to the restaurant scene. In the early ’90s, Raku Kushiyaki on West 10th introduced us to the idea and Sushi Wabi Sabi took over with a similar feel of zen calm and refinement. But izakayas are not temples — they’re traditionally deafeningly noisy places, a place to blow off steam, an escape valve for an extremely polite society.

Here in Vancouver, the Guu group got things hopping, spreading its izakaya tentacles, mostly appealing to Japanese language students who needed homes away from home. Hapa was the first to strike the hip, happening chord, thanks to Ault, a third-generation Japanese Canadian who worked in Tokyo for 10 years as a stockbroker. His izakaya, along with Kingyo on Denman, are the standouts in today’s crowded izakaya scene.

Hapa’s Kits location is more laid-back than downtown and they’re seeing a lot of people who once hoofed it to Robson Street for the small-plate Japanese food. As you enter, you note that staff might be chosen for good looks and for lung power as they blast out a deafening “Irashaii!!!” from all corners of the room with every arrival.

The menu is the same at both locations but each has its own daily features section; the tapas-size dishes are reasonably priced in the $7 to $8 range.

My favourites from the regular menu are Ebi Mayo: big bruiser prawns with a spicy mayo, and Kinoko Meshi, a rice dish served in a blazing hot stone bowl which makes me skittish as it’s not idiot-proof — I’ve been branded by a hot pot handle, grabbing it from the oven. Anyway, the rice, mixed with pine mushrooms and other goodies, turned crisp on the outer edges upon sizzling against the hot stone bowl.

Tora Aburi (seared albacore tuna belly with sesame dressing) and Gyu Kushi (beef skewers marinated in yuzu miso) both featured quality products.

Yubu Salad with its large helping of spinach provides a nice hit of fresh greens; Hapa Chicken, too, comes with a side of greens. Kabocha Salad really could do triple duty — it’s called a salad, is light, sweet and moussey like dessert but is served as a dip.

I tried the homemade pickles and, well, they’re different. Cheese tofu was unusual. They’re cubes of cream cheese and tofu, once again, sweet, with a maple syrup sauce. Some items are not for the uninitiated — like the Tako Wasabi (octopus). Too slippery. And for that matter, the Yaki Udon also had a slippery, chewy texture.

The Asian servers are friendly and English isn’t their second language but they’re not a fount of information, especially when it comes to wines.

Try the cold sake in bamboo, a popular call; otherwise, I found the Wild Goose Autumn Gold (a blend) worked well with the multiple flavours of izakaya. There’s also a nice roster of cocktails, martinis and mojitos which would be nice sipping once the patio is completed with a view to a slice of Kits Beach.

– – –

HAPA IZAKAYA

Overall: 3 1/2

Food: 3 1/2

Ambience: 3 1/2

Service: 3 1/2

Price $/$$

1516 Yew St., 604-738-4272. www.hapaizakaya.com. Open for lunch and dinner, seven days a week.

Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

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Price climb to slow, not stop

Thursday, June 14th, 2007

‘If you can get a bidding war, you’re laughing’

Ian Austin
Province

Vancouver realtor Carole Lieberman

B.C.’s hot housing market will cool but continue to climb, according to the Credit Union Central of B.C.

After a stunning 18-per-cent jump in the market in 2006, the credit union predicts 12-per-cent growth this year and a six-per-cent hike in 2008.

“The market is price-sensitive,” said realtor Carole Lieberman, cautioning homeowners not to overprice their properties in spite of an upward trend.

“Even if the market is hot, you have to price sharply. Buyers are very knowledgeable, and they know the value.”

Lieberman says that dropping the asking price can sometimes end up in a better result.

“I have listings that aren’t selling — you have to price carefully,” said Lieberman, a Dexters Associates realtor for 18 years.

“If you can get a bidding war, you’re laughing.”

While asking prices seem extremely high — she’s currently marketing one Kitsilano unit in a triplex for $829,000 and half a duplex for $899,000 — buyers already in the market are willing to pay.

“It’s crazy,” she acknowledged. “People are paying too much, but they’re getting a lot for their own properties.”

The credit union forecast says an overall buoyant economy will spur on prices, but the looming prospect of higher interest rates could take some momentum out of the market, especially at the top end.

“Housing-market conditions will generate substantial price gains this year, but those conditions will ease somewhat next year, resulting in a more moderate price increase,” said Helmut Pastric, the credit union’s chief economist.

With urban areas already priced extremely high, the credit union expects the largest year-over-year increases outside the Lower Mainland.

“The high-priced markets of the Lower Mainland and Victoria areas will generally under-perform the lower-priced markets elsewhere in the province,” reads the credit union’s B.C. Housing Market Forecast 2007-2008.

“The North, the Interior and the Kootenay regions are on a stronger performance path.”

The credit union predicts that the positives from a strong economy will outweigh the negatives of higher interest rates. “Income and job growth will play a greater role than interest rates in supporting housing sales over the next two years,” reads the forecast.

“Rising population growth will also contribute to housing demand and sales growth.

“The interest-rate impact remains strong but will be a lesser contributor to sales and demand growth than before.”

n In a related story, the construction industry is predicting increased demand for construction workers over the next few years.

“The huge boom in construction right now in the province requires that we all ensure programs are in place to meet the increased demand for qualified workers who can continue to operate safely on our worksites,” said Wayne Peppard of the B.C. and Yukon Territory Building and Construction Trades Council.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

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Google Maps comes down to candid street level

Wednesday, June 13th, 2007

New 360- degree street- scene photos capture delicate moments of passersby

Sun

SAN FRANCISCO — Smile, you’re on Google. Street- scene photographs recently added to Google Maps and Earth capture passersby in delicate situations and have privacy advocates accusing the world’s most popular Internet search firm of breaking its “ Don’t Be Evil” code.

Google’s “ Street View” feature weaves photographs into seamless panoramas of parts of San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Denver, Miami, and renowned technology Mecca Silicon Valley in northern California.

“ With Street View users can virtually walk the streets of a city, check out a restaurant before arriving, and even zoom in on bus stops and street signs to make travel plans,” Google says on its website.

Privacy advocates counter that it also provides offensively candid glimpses of people unwittingly photographed while going about their daily lives.

Pictures show what appears to be men urinating streetside. Young women are pictured in skimpy swimsuits sunbathing near Stanford University, the California alma mater of Google’s founders.

There is a picture of a man climbing a home’s security gate, hopefully without criminal intent. People are pictured going into a pornography shop.

A couple can be seen embracing on a sidewalk, while another couple gets intimate on a bus stop bench. A homeless man pictured sitting with his dog on a street corner has reportedly died since the photograph was taken.

Technology- centric Wired magazine is asking online readers to vote for “ the best inadvertent urban snapshots … be they citizens flaunting the laws or hot dog vendors rocking a sweet style.”

Google’s actions ‘ irresponsible,’
but not illegal in the U. S.

It is legal to photograph people in public places in the United States.

“ What Google does is not illegal, but irresponsible,” said Rebecca Jeschke of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ( EFF), a U. S. non- profit group dedicated to defending Internet freedom and privacy.

“ Google Street View technology has been an intrusion of privacy to many people captured in their pictures. They could have waited until they developed technology that would allow them to obscure peoples’ faces.”

Miami abortion clinic director Elaine Diamond is troubled by a Google Maps picture showing protesters outside the facility.

“ I wish they would replace it,” Diamond said. “ I couldn’t contact them. I tried quickly. It’s not easy.”

Women visiting abortion clinics are under enough stress without adding fears that Google Maps might feature pictures of them entering or leaving the facilities, Diamond said.

Operators of places such as drug, alcohol or sexual health clinics worry about protecting their clients from the stigma of being pictured in Street View.

Google said it worked with shelters for battered women and children to avoid photographs endangering their visitors.

“ Everyone expects a certain level of anonymity as they move about their daily lives,” EFF attorney Kevin Bankston told AFP.

Google says photographs are taken down or replaced in response to complaints.

“ Street View only features imagery taken on public property,” the Mountain View, Californiabased Internet titan said in its defense.

“ This imagery is no different from what any person can readily capture or see walking down the street.”

Google’s Street View has fans among those eager to explore places as an adjunct or replacement to travel.

Google used a fleet of vans equipped with special cameras to amass 360- degree imagery of major US cities during the past several months and said it planned to add more urban areas to the Street View menu.

There is no word on when Street View will focus in on Canadian streets. According to Google representative Kate Hurowitz, the company is planning to provide Street View for regions throughout the world, but the feature may vary by country due to “ local laws and norms.”

“ We will be adding Street View imagery for new cities on an ongoing basis,” Hurowitz said in an e- mail.

“ We are not providing additional details about the imagery collection schedule at this time, but we will announce new imagery rollouts on the Google Lat Long blog [ http:// google- latlong. blogspot. com/].”

Google said it intends to update the images regularly.

Posted in Technology Related Articles | Comments Off on Google Maps comes down to candid street level

$18m condo gives new meaning to the term ‘highrise’

Wednesday, June 13th, 2007

Bruce Constantineau
Sun

It’s a multimillion-dollar view from the penthouse apartment at 2601-1000 Beach Ave., as seen in this photo from realtor Ben Kielb’s website. The price tag is $18.2 million

Vancouver’s most expensive condominium unit hit the market this week with an $18.2-million price tag.

Not bad for something that sold for less than $3 million just three years ago.

To be fair, Vancouver businessman Randy Bishop has spent several million dollars completing the property that was an unfinished shell when he bought it in 2004.

The 26th-floor, two-level luxury unit at 1000 Beach Ave. features myriad real estate bells and whistles designed to attract well-heeled buyers from around the world.

It includes a private elevator, an additional 800-square-foot nanny suite on a separate floor, a private four-car garage and two extra parking stalls, a boat slip at a marina, and floor-to-ceiling windows that offer 360-degree city views.

Sotheby International Realty realtor Ben Kielb, who is selling the property, said the building is 14 years old, but the condo unit is virtually brand new as a two-year renovation finished just last week.

“By international standards, for what it is, the price is not ridiculous,” he said in an interview. “We’re just heading into uncharted waters for Vancouver.”

Kielb said a Sotheby’s realtor from San Francisco visited the property last week and felt the price was more than fair.

“I was told there was nothing like this in San Francisco, and if there was, it would be double or triple the price,” he said.

Other features in the 6,900-square-foot unit include solid marble stairs, walnut walls, hand-carved doors, and a kitchen with Miele-brand appliances.

Kielb feels a “handful” of local buyers might be interested in the condo, but expects a lot more international buyers will check it out.

“This is probably more international in scope,” he said. “We’ll probably attract buyers from places like Hong Kong or Russia, or maybe a movie star or rock star.”

Vancouver realtor Bob Rennie, a condo market specialist, said prices for the most exclusive city condos continue to go up.

He said renowned Canadian record producer David Foster recently bought a 2,600-square-foot condo in the Fairmont Pacific Rim development near Canada Place for more than $5.5 million. That project is expected to be completed in 2009.

The 6,400-square-foot penthouse at the Fairmont sold for $12.6 million this year, and apparently has resold already for a substantially higher price.

“There is no competition if somebody wants to buy something like that,” Rennie said. “Every building only has one penthouse, and once they’re all gone, that’s it.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

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On the wine trail from Vernon in the north to Osoyoos in the south

Sunday, June 10th, 2007

Laurie Carter
Province

With gentle slopes, ample sunshine and hot summers, the Ikanagan is ideal for growing grapes. Vineyards, such as this one near Kelowna, continue to sprout. – CANWEST NEWS SERVICE

Toasting Okanagan wine country at Summerhill Winery.

Tasty fruit ready for the picking.

Quail’s Gate Vineyard bounty basks in the Okanagan sun. PHOTOS BY LAURIE CARTER – FOR THE PROVINCE

The climate is ideal for grape-growing.

Most wineries offer free tastings on certain wines, with a $2 charge for their premium tiers.

Orchards make way for vineyards on the Naramata Bench.

Nk’Mip Cellars in Osoyoos is North America’s first aboriginal-owned and operated winter.

The Bella Vista winery in Vernon offers a great view to drink in. RIC ERNST – PROVINCE FILE PHOTO

“Let’s face it, it’s a beverage made out of rotten grapes,” says Jolene Palmer, sommelier and educator at the Penticton & Wine Country Visitor Centre and VQA store.

Determined to help newbies overcome the wine-mystique intimidation factor and fearlessly venture into tasting rooms throughout the Okanagan, Palmer conducts free daily Wine 101 sessions — including a hands-on, nose-in-glass tasting demo that will prepare you to swirl, sniff and sip with confidence.

And if you really want to look like a connoisseur or simply avoid an impaired-driving charge after a day of tasting, Palmer insists you’ve got to learn to spit. She admits that it’s tough to get over the horror of publicly spewing a mouthful of $20-a-bottle Merlot into a spittoon, and tougher still to accomplish this feat without dribbling down your chin, but Palmer’s adamant that spitters get respect.

A stop at the centre is worthwhile to catch the latest on new wineries, changes and expansions. Pamphlets just can’t keep up. Wine Regions of British Columbia lists 11 wineries on the Naramata Bench. The number is actually 19 and counting. Staffers can give you the latest information and suggest tour routes.

Penticton is the hub of Okanagan wine touring. The area offers scores of B&Bs as well as hotels and a growing number of resort condos, and it’s a convenient starting point for day-trips to the five distinct sub-regions identified by the Pacific Agri-Foods Research Station in Summerland.

While winemakers are constantly experimenting with new varietals and many use grapes produced in various parts of the valley, you may want to look for some of the most notable in each area.

Around Kelowna, the heavier soil with sandy loam, clay and limestone favours varietals such as pinot noir, pinot gris, pinot blanc, riesling and chardonnay. Calona Vineyards, celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is B.C.’s original winery.

Located in the downtown core, the winery is open year-round for tours and tasting.

South of the city, a string of wineries includes Summerhill, which features a unique pyramid for barrel aging, a replica kekuli (traditional First Nations winter lodge), a settler’s cabin, and the Sunset Bistro with sweeping lake views.

And clustered around Mount Boucherie, an extinct volcano on the west side of Okanagan Lake, are five wineries. Mission Hill is notable for its commanding site, stunning architecture and four bronze bells in a 12-storey tower. Almost directly below, Quail’s Gate is just completing a major expansion. Its Old Vines Restaurant serves up one of the very best winery views in the valley.

The stretch between Kelowna and Penticton, while not identified as a separate sub-region, is home to a sprinkling of wineries such as Hainle in Peachland, where the latest news is a restaurant and cookery school. The McWatters family started Sumac Ridge Winery in Summerland 25 years ago. Their Cellar Door Bistro is open March through December. And another Summerland winery is proving that there is something in a name. Formerly called Scherzinger Vineyards, the rechristened Dirty Laundry label is gaining lots of consumer attention.

In his must-have Okanagan Wine Tour Guide, wine guru John Schreiner says the new owner, Ron Watkins, claims the first reason for the change is that he isn’t German. He’s also borrowed from a Summerland story about an early 20th-century Chinese railway worker who opened a laundry — with a brothel in the back room — which came to be known as the “dirty laundry.” Watkins plays on the theme with both corks and labels.

Directly opposite Summerland on the eastern shore, the sloping aspect and proximity to Okanagan Lake of the Naramata Bench provides for plenty of sunlight and long, frost-free autumns. Varietals produced here include pinot noir, pinot gris, pinot blanc, chardonnay and merlot.

This area has to be the biggest surprise for people who haven’t toured the region for a couple of years. Orchards are disappearing and new vineyards being planted as fast as the land can be cleared. One exception is Elephant Island, where Miranda and Del Halladay have married orchard and winery to make fruit wines. Don’t think cloying sweetness here. Their blackcurrant and crab-apple wines leave you with a nice tart pucker.

Therapy — really working a theme with inkblot labels and wines named Freudian Sip, Pink Freud and SuperEgo — is one of the newcomers, occupying the property where Red Rooster (now relocated and vastly expanded) got its start. Hillside has stayed put with its Barrel Room Bistro still open year-round. More dining options include Mahdina’s patio at Lake Breeze and a one-stop wine tour at Cobblestones Wine Bar in the Naramata Heritage Inn.

Around Okanagan Falls, the range of soils and aspect favour riesling, gewurztraminer and pinot noir. Here the highest elevation vineyards in the Okanagan — Hawthorne Mountain — are terraced into the hillsides and more of those catchy new names have been coined. Legend has it that in the 1920s, when owner Major Hugh Fraser’s British wife decided she’d had enough colonial living and packed her bags, she left a note saying, “See ya later.”

The winery has adopted the phrase to brand its premium line, which includes a red Meritage called Ping. This wine is named for one of the major’s beloved dogs. You’ll find Ping’s headstone, along with one for each of the major’s other canine companions, in a memorial under a tree in front of the 1902 heritage house with its recently expanded tasting room and a patio.

In Oliver, the old fire hall has joined the wine age, housing the Toasted Oak Wine Bar & Grill and the Wine Country Welcome Centre and VQA store. This is another great place for one-stop tasting when time or stamina rule out hitting more wineries.

However, you shouldn’t skip the Golden Mile, south of Oliver on the western slopes of the valley, where well-drained gravel, clay and sandy soils produce merlot, chardonnay, gewurztraminer and more.

At Tinhorn Creek, you can taste why Palmer teaches that you shouldn’t turn up your nose at screw caps. Many wineries have started using them on their premium lines as the best way to avoid cork taint. Tinhorn Creek offers a self-guided winery tour, demonstration vineyard, art shows and a summer concert series in its outdoor amphitheatre. This is also the starting point for the Golden Mile hiking trail — with two- and 10-kilometre versions that take hikers by the ruins of the Tinhorn Creek gold mine.

Far less developed, but no less successful, the log-cabin tasting room at Fairview Cellars is presided over by a plaid-shirted farmer in a baseball cap. Bill Eggert’s reds, especially the Bear’s Meritage, a merlot/ cabernet sauvignon/cab franc blend, sell out fast.

Across the valley and stretching south, the Black Sage/Osoyoos sub-region flattens out and on very deep sand produces Bordeaux varietals, chardonnay and syrah/shiraz. In her Wine 101 session, Palmer explains that they’re the same grape but those labelled syrah are Rhone-style while those labelled shiraz are Aussie-style.

Burrowing Owl, the best-known winery in this area, has expanded its facilities to include 10 guest rooms with private balconies. From the restaurant, you can take a self-guided tour of the bell tower.

And near the border in Osoyoos, Nk’Mip Cellars is the first aboriginal-owned-and-operated winery in North America. Part of a four-season destination complex, it offers accommodations ranging from a lakeside camping/RV park to the upscale Spirit Ridge Vineyard Resort & Spa with an adjacent golf course and the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre.

IF YOU GO

– Tours help eliminate the boggle factor. Check these out: Tour deVine, www.tourdevine.bc.ca; Top Cat Tours, www.topcattours.com; Okanagan Wine Country Tours, www.okwine

tours.com.

– Four annual festivals celebrate the grape. The Summer Festival, held at Silver Star Mountain Resort in Vernon, is a weekend of wine seminars, arts, music, outdoor tasting and outdoor recreation (Aug. 9-11).

Fall is the biggie (Sept. 29-Oct. 7). It features more than 165 events during the height of the harvest.

Icewine rules at Sun Peaks Resort in Kamloops from Jan. 14-19, 2008.

The Spring Festival marries food and wine from May 1-4, 2008.

— www.owfs.com

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Pet Bylaws & Form B’s must be read before subject removal

Sunday, June 10th, 2007

Tony Gioventu
Province

Dear Condo Smarts: Can you please tell us what information is supposed to be included with the Form B information certificate? We received the Form B three days after we removed the subjects for the purchase of a townhouse.

Our sale is completing the first week of August and the rules that were attached with the form indicate that pets are prohibited.

We have two very dear dogs that we cannot part with. We read all the minutes and the bylaws and there was no such restriction.

Do we attempt to cancel the sale or is there some other remedy ? Could the strata corporation grandfather our pets?

Dear Jeffersons and all buyers: A Form B information certificate is simply a disclosure of information about a strata corporation for a specific date in history.

Many buyers falsely believe the form is valid for 30 or 60 days.

Financial status, rules, rentals, strata fees, court actions and municipal notices can all change within a day, so don’t rely on a Form B beyond the date it was issued.

Rules must be included with a Form B because they are not filed in the Land Title Registry. However, rules cannot apply to the use of a strata lot, and a rule that prohibits or restricts pets must be a properly ratified and registered bylaw to be enforceable.

The purpose of the Form B is strata-corporation disclosure of information about the strata business and its rules and bylaws. The form includes the amount of your strata fee; if there are agreements between the strata lot and the strata where you could be taking responsibility for the maintenance and repair of permitted alterations; approved special levies; projected deficits; contingency-reserve amounts; bylaw amendments or threequarter votes yet to be filed in the Land Title Registry; court proceedings; pending notified three-quarter resolutions; the number of units rented; and work orders issued by an authority.

Receiving the Form B after you close the sale is of little benefit to a buyer since considering the information in the form, the strata minutes, bylaws and financial reports would all be critical before you make the decision to buy.

Regarding your pets, the strata corporation needs to be advised their rule prohibiting pets is not permitted or enforceable under the Act.

Tony Gioventu is the executive director of the Condominium Home Owners Association (CHOA). Contact CHOA at 604584-2462 or call toll-free at 1-877-353-2462,or fax 604-5159643, or go to www.choa.bc.ca, or email [email protected]

Posted in Real Estate Legal Articles | Comments Off on Pet Bylaws & Form B’s must be read before subject removal

Pet Bylaws & Form B’s must be read before subject removal

Sunday, June 10th, 2007

Tony Gioventu
Province

Our sale is completing the first week of August and the rules that were attached with the form indicate that pets are prohibited.

We have two very dear dogs that we cannot part with. We read all the minutes and the bylaws and there was no such restriction.

Do we attempt to cancel the sale or is there some other remedy ? Could the strata corporation grandfather our pets?

Dear Jeffersons and all buyers: A Form B information certificate is simply a disclosure of information about a strata corporation for a specific date in history.

Many buyers falsely believe the form is valid for 30 or 60 days.

Financial status, rules, rentals, strata fees, court actions and municipal notices can all change within a day, so don’t rely on a Form B beyond the date it was issued.

Regarding your pets, the strata corporation needs to be advised their rule prohibiting pets is not permitted or enforceable under the Act.

Posted in Real Estate Related | Comments Off on Pet Bylaws & Form B’s must be read before subject removal

Archive for June, 2007

Hot dogs, Japanese style

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

Hapa Izakaya finds its way into Kitsilano

New location is more laid-back than downtown, serving the same delicious menu items at reasonable prices

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

On the wine trail from Vernon in the north to Osoyoos in the south

© The Vancouver Province 2007

Pet Bylaws & Form B’s must be read before subject removal

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Archive for June, 2007

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

New location is more laid-back than downtown, serving the same delicious menu items at reasonable prices

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

‘If you can get a bidding war, you’re laughing’

© The Vancouver Province 2007

New 360- degree street- scene photos capture delicate moments of passersby

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

The deal ensures the hotel’s name won’t be changed

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

© The Vancouver Province 2007