A homeowner and BC strata battled it out in a tribunal hearing over damage to a balcony that the strata claimed was abused.
The BC homeowner initiated the case and claimed that the strata had refused to repair his damaged balcony. He asked the tribunal for an order that would force the strata to make those repairs and also claimed $5,000 for damages related to mental distress.
The strata claimed that the homeowner abused the balcony by placing large pieces of equipment on it.
“It claims the equipment’s weight and vibration loosened the balcony’s waterproof membrane,” the tribunal decision said, adding that the strata believed the homeowner should be responsible for repairs.
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According to the online tribunal decision, the balcony was last repaired in 2019. The homeowner said there was a new issue with the balcony in 2022, but the strata refused to fix it.
According to the homeowner, the issue was two soft spots on the balcony that he thought were caused by the deck beneath them rotting under the waterproof membrane. He first emailed the strata manager about it on July 18, 2022.
On September 7, 2022, someone came in to inspect the balcony.
In March 2023, the strata manager informed the homeowner that the funding vote for the balcony repairs was defeated at a strata meeting.
The homeowner alleged that the original repair work, completed in 2019, was not done correctly. He provided an inspection report from a local inspection company to support that claim. The tribunal accepted this as expert opinion evidence.
While the strata didn’t dispute the findings of that inspection report and that the balcony needed to be repaired, it again suggested that the homeowner breached bylaws and caused the damage by using and storing items not allowed on the balcony.
The tribunal found that the homeowner did indeed violate some of the bylaws by using heavy equipment, including a table saw, on the balcony. However, there wasn’t enough evidence to support the claim that his equipment caused the balcony to deteriorate through vibrations and weight.
That led to the determination that the strata was responsible for the repairs of the balcony.
The tribunal dismissed the homeowner’s claim for damages but ordered the strata to retain and pay a contractor to repair his balcony within 60 days of the dispute and pay the homeowner for tribunal fees.