Resident takes strata to court in prolonged noise complaint saga

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The co-owner of a strata unit took the strata corporation to court in a lengthy noise complaint saga.

The noise was apparently coming from a neighbour’s gaming and subwoofer systems, keeping her awake “day and night.”

She asked the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal for an order that Strata Plan NW 3291 remove the equipment causing the noise.

Hillegonda Mathilde Van Der Mee was the disgruntled resident who represented herself, while a council member represented the strata.

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Van Der Mee has lived in the strata with her husband since 1996. The strata itself was created in 1990. Van Der Mee lives in unit 20, while the unit she has noise complaints about is unit 22.

The neighbours had lived there since 2017, but neither Van Der Mee nor her husband made noise complaints until January 2022.

Tribunal member Micah Carmody stated, “Mrs. Van Der Mee says the unit 22 residents used their computer, television and sound system in a way that created noise day and night that interfered with Mrs. Van Der Mee’s use and enjoyment of her strata lot.”

Van Der Mee also said that the noise affected her sleep and caused anxiety, fatigue, headaches and other issues. After complaining about the noise in January 2022, she issued another complaint the next month, in February. In April, two council members attended both units, which the tribunal considered a “timely response.”

At the time, Van Der Mee said in a “contemporaneous email” that council members could verify the sound as legitimate. In May, the occupants of unit 22 disconnected their subwoofer as requested by the strata. In response, Van Der Mee suggested it was quiet after midnight two nights following the disconnection, but the noise was back during the day.

In June, the strata discovered that a gaming computer was against a wall dividing the two units. Engineers that the strata retained concluded that this was the noise source and that it “exceeded World Health Organization noise guidelines,” but the engineer’s findings were inconclusive.

The computer system was relocated in response, yet Van Der Mee still had noise complaints.

In July, the complaints continued. In August, the noise continued, “but it was less bothersome” because she spent more time on her balcony.

Unsurprisingly, the tribunal found that the strata met its duty to investigate Van Der Mee’s noise complaints, but she still suggested that the strata were “prejudiced against elderly people.”

Ultimately, the tribunal dismissed Van Der Mee’s claims and the dispute and awarded her nothing.