Strata corporation’s liens discharged for lack of proper notice

In a case decided late last year, the BC Supreme Court considered the interplay of two provisions in the Strata Property Act: section 116, which authorizes a strata corporation to register a lien against a strata lot if its owner has failed to make certain listed payments to a strata corporation, and section 61, which describes how a strata corporation is to give notice under the act. The Owners, Strata Plan BCS 3372 v Manji, Read more…

New rules for strata corporations on guide and service dogs in force today

British Columbia’s Guide and Service Dog Act comes into force today, bringing with it some new rules for strata corporations. The act contains a consequential amendment to the Strata Property Act, which provides that a “bylaw that prohibits a pet or other animal or that restricts the access of a pet or other animal to a strata lot or common property does not apply to a guide dog or service dog, or a dog that Read more…

BC Supreme Court releases judgment in long-running commercial-strata dispute

The Supreme Court of British Columbia has just released its trial judgment in The Owners, Strata Plan LMS 3259 v Sze Hang Holding Inc, 2016 BCSC 32, marking the latest chapter in a dispute that stretches back to 2001 and that has already generated two decisions from the court of appeal— The Owners, Strata Plan LMS 3259 v Sze Hang Holding Inc, 2012 BCCA 196 and Extra Gift Exchange Inc v The Owners, Strata Plan LMS3259, 2014 Read more…

Manitoba Law Reform Commission recommends modernization of law on municipal conflicts of interest

In its just-published final report Modernizing The Municipal Council Conflict of Interest Act: Accountability, Enforcement & Oversight (PDF), the Manitoba Law Reform Commission is recommending reforms to how Manitoba deals with conflicts of interest at the level of municipal councils. The summary of the report gives this description of its scope and primary recommendations: This report will provide an overview of the municipal conflict of interest legislative regime in Manitoba and other jurisdictions and will Read more…

A comparison of reforms to terminating a strata in British Columbia and New South Wales

This post is a follow up on a topic noted in an earlier post, discussing reforms to New South Wales’s strata-property legislation that are expected to come into force later this year. The sweeping reforms contained in this legislation include a fundamental revision of how the Australian state approaches terminating a strata. In addressing this topic, New South Wales has something in common with British Columbia, which also passed reforms to terminating a strata last Read more…