Tony Gioventu
Province
Dear Condo Smarts:
We are in a new strata that the first owners moved into in July 2007. Our council has been working very hard to create a management plan, but we get no co-operation from either the developer or our property manager, who was hired by the developer. We have no access to our building records and are unclear on who we go to when we have a building problem. Since our first AGM in November, we have had two pipe breaks and a roof leak. Both were easily repaired once they were discovered, but now our insurance is increasing substantially and we still don’t know what we need to do. The members of our council are all volunteers and don’t know what to do next.
— CC, Richmond.
Dear CC: The first year of a strata is the toughest. If you don’t get off on the right foot it can be very costly. At the first AGM your developer was required to hand over all the building records, contracts, operating instructions, suppliers’ names, plans and warranties. That may have been provided to the manager, but your council also needs those records to make decisions and understand your building system. Get the list from Section 20 of the Strata Act, and review all of your documents and confirm that everything required exists. If there is anything missing, track it down through the developer.
Next, make sure every council member has a copy of the common-area warranty for your strata, and individual copies of warranties for products and materials such as: the elevator, roof, carpeting, boilers or safety systems. The warranty commences on the date of the first sale or first occupancy, whichever came first. In the warranty documents, there are critical dates that limit claims and set out conditions of how to file claims. If you have any building warranty claims, they are only treated as a valid warranty claim if you file the claim with the warranty provider in the proper form.
While calling the developer to co-ordinate service may resolve the problem, it is not necessarily a valid warranty claim. As your one- to two-year period is coming up, it may also be prudent to have a complete building inspection conducted to form part of a claim process before the expiry dates.
The two-, five- and 10-year generally means that building systems are covered for two years, the envelope for five years and the structure for 10 years. The warranty is a contract with your strata that also sets out specific maintenance and inspection obligations. Make sure you uphold your obligations to protect your warranty interests. Your warranty can be worth as much as $2.5 million in coverage per building. If you are getting no co-operation from the developer or manager, it might be time to take tougher action and seek legal recourse.
Tony Gioventu is executive director of the Condominium Home Owners’ Association (www.choa.bc.ca). E-mail: [email protected]
© The Vancouver Province 2008
