Tony Gioventu
Province
Dear Condo Smarts: Our strata council is confused on how to apply our bylaws.
We live in a very harmonious strata building in Nanaimo. Over the years, owners have been permitted to install awnings, balcony enclosures, and make changes in their strata lots. Nothing has ever been documented and no one can provide any proof of the permission; however, we all remember at some point having been on council, and even I recall giving consent for an owner to change the windows.
Now one owner is challenging us because we will not allow them to change their carpets to hardwood flooring. This is the one alteration we have avoided, to guarantee that owners would not have excessive noise. She claims we cannot cherry-pick which alterations we will and will not approve, and she may have a point.
— Ms. H. Griffin, Nanaimo
Dear Ms. Griffin: The general enforcement of bylaws works well if a strata council goes by the book. The casual approach works well enough until there is a problem, and with the constant change of ownership in buildings, you can almost guarantee one.
The owner making the application is correct about one thing: you cannot cherry-pick your alterations. The bylaws are there for the regulation of the strata corporation’s use and enjoyment of property, but they are also there to ensure council applies the enforcement of bylaws in the same fair manner to all owners.
In fairness, council must comply with the bylaws in the enforcement as owners have to comply with bylaws in their compliance. The bylaws require written permission, and either through a letter to the strata lot or in the minutes of the council meetings, council has an obligation to provide written permission. Unless a strata corporation has a bylaw that specifically prohibits the changes to a strata lot that prohibit or limit certain types of flooring, the council is a bound to the standards of a reasonable approval.
There may also be extreme medically documented conditions of allergies to dust and particles produced from carpeted flooring that may require the owners to consider an alteration.
If your strata wants to regulate specific types of flooring, then a bylaw would be necessary.
Tony Gioventu is executive director of the Condominium Home Owners’ Association. Send questions to him at [email protected].
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