Maintaining doors, windows
Tony Gioventu
Province
Dear Condo Smarts: Our strata council is deeply divided on the opinion of who is responsible for maintaining and repairing doors and windows. Created in 2004, the strata passed a bylaw that declared the windows and the doors on the exterior of the building limited common property.
We did this to make owners responsible for doors and windows on their own units. Several have indicated, however, that they have no intention of maintaining and repairing their windows, especially those on the fourth floor that have no balcony next to them.
They have rightly pointed out that maintaining those windows from the exterior will require a tradesperson to mount a ladder, a lift or scaffold via the common property and landscaping; this work could lead to damage to areas or units in the building and they don’t want to assume liability for such possible damage. So we’re locked in a dispute. The exterior of the building is not being maintained and several owners are threatening court action if we don’t get on with maintenance.
Is there a solution?
— JF, White Rock
Dear JF: Here are the technical basics. To determine how the property is defined in your strata, I reviewed your registered strata plan and common amendments at the Land Title Registry.
In your plan (and warranty documents), the exterior of your apartment-style strata building is clearly common property.
The windows are outside the dividing boundary between the strata lot and the exterior, and the warranty documents clearly identify your windows as part of your common-property warranty for the building envelope.
A very common error made by strata corporations is assuming they can convert common property to limited common property simply by passing a new bylaw. That is incorrect.
The strata must first pass a resolution that creates the limited common property (LCM) and include a sketch plan that satisfies the registrar of Land Titles, defines the areas of LCP and specifies to which lot the LCP is allocated.
Then it all has to be filed with the Land Title Registry. Clearly, your strata corporation has not met those requirements, casting doubt on the enforceability of the bylaw.
From a practical perspective, your strata owners need to rethink their decision. One of the main reasons people live in strata buildings is so they can share the duties of maintenance and thereby benefit from lower costs.
Another important point is that by controlling common- area repairs, a strata corporation can ensure that the entire building exterior is protected.
You should also read your warranty conditions.
The warranty contract includes exterior doors and windows as part of the building-envelope coverage under the first five-year period.
By transferring the responsibility for maintenance from the the corporation to the owners, it is quite possible you may have jeopardized your warranty coverage.
Contact your warranty provider and seek legal advice.
