Vancouver penthouse owner sues strata for vacancy tax in fight over common area
Joanne Lee-Young
The Vancouver Sun
Concord Pacific CEO and Erickson penthouse owner Terry Hui alleges the strata council has delayed completion of penthouse during the fight over the common area, leading to the City of Vancouver charging a vacancy tax
Terry Hui has been battling other owners over the use of a 6,000-square-foot space that is on the second floor of The Erickson. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /PNG
Penthouse owner Terry Hui is suing the other strata owners at a luxury Yaletown condo in a continuing fight over a common area of the building.
Hui, president and CEO of development company Concord Pacific, filed the lawsuit demanding repayment of what he has been paying for a few years in vacancy taxes.
Hui has been battling other owners over the use of a 6,000-square-foot space that is on the second floor of The Erickson, a 17-storey building with 60 units on northern False Creek’s seawall.
After the City of Vancouver issued an order last fall saying all residents in the building should have access to the space rather than only Hui, “several unauthorized video cameras were installed (presumably by agents working on behalf of the penthouse owner) and the locks were changed yet again,” according to the strata president’s report at a recent annual general meeting.
The original development permit submitted by Concord and approved by the city for The Erickson in 2005 showed the vast area on the second floor as a common amenity area.
But when the strata plan was later filed with the land title office after the building was finished in 2010, the same space was shown as designated for the sole use of the penthouse owner, who has always been Hui.
The plans also showed a private elevator that could run from the parkade to the penthouse with a stop on this second-floor, which has a reception area, spaces for a theatre and other rooms.
Postmedia reported in mid April 2022 that the City refused an application by developer Concord Pacific to amend the development permit so Hui could retain the area for his own use.
After this, Hui’s lawyer informed the strata that “Concord is in the process of preparing a revised application to the city to amend the development permit.”
In a notice of claim filed in March with the Supreme Court of B.C., Hui alleges the strata “delayed consent for a building permit for (his) unfinished penthouse, which has purportedly delayed him in being able to build out and complete his unfinished two-storey unit,” said the president’s recent AGM report.
Hui is seeking the amount he paid to the City of Vancouver for its empty homes tax as assessed on his penthouse unit in the building for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 tax years, plus interest at a commercial rate.
Earlier, Hui’s lawyer had sent a letter to the strata saying he had proposed “a tolling agreement” that would charge owners for use of the second-floor space.
“It would have permitted litigation to be deferred while the parties worked out their differences. The strata council refused,” said lawyer Hein Poulus in the letter. “The consequence is that the legal costs of defending the litigation will fall either on the owners (except my client) or an insurance underwriter (which will drive up the owners’ insurance costs.”
The strata council said in its report that it “continues to trust that the City of Vancouver will not enter into any more development agreements with Concord Pacific for the Erickson, until the president of Concord, Mr. Hui, honours the conditions of the development permit for the Erickson.”
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