Homeowner takes legal action to force BC strata to make repairs | Daily Hive

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A BC homeowner took it upon himself to force his strata to take steps to make repairs to some buildings that desperately needed it by pursuing legal action.

In a BC Civil Resolution Tribunal dispute, the homeowner, Gary Cuddington, alleged that all the affected buildings suffered from envelope failure.

Cuddington provided engineering reports to back his claims. Meanwhile, while the BC strata didn’t deny that further repairs were needed, it claimed that one of the reports submitted to the tribunal was “discredited and not reliable.” However, it failed to provide additional details.

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One of the key pieces of evidence in this tribunal decision was from another homeowner, Richard Dunn, who was also the president of the strata council.

Cuddington argued that Dunn intentionally obstructed the recommended repairs. Dunn claimed that no repairs were required at SL2, one of the units where Cuddington believed they were needed. Cuddington also alleged that Dunn would use his “tie-casting vote” as president to continue to delay repairs.

“The strata says that Mr. Dunn has obstructed the building repairs for several years. It argues that SL2 is in the same condition as strata lots 3 and 4, so it should not be excluded from the needed repairs,” the tribunal decision states.

Dunn wanted to withdraw a claim about SL2, which the tribunal permitted, potentially giving the repairs the green light.

The whole topic of repairs began when a new owner purchased a strata lot in 2020. That owner wanted to do a complete interior renovation. Once that project started, Cuddington claims it was apparent that the building envelope failed. A 2022 report by an engineering firm called Spratt confirmed several issues and items needing replacement or repair years before the report was created.

“The Spratt report concluded that it was necessary to immediately remediate the building envelope of all of the wood frame structures ‘for the health and safety of the occupants’ because the structural framing and sheathing had been “significantly compromised,” reads the tribunal decision.

Spratt estimated repairs would cost around $2 million and could be completed within a year.

A separate report from BMAC, another consulting firm, further confirmed that some work needed to be done as soon as possible. The tribunal disagreed with the strata that the Spratt report was unreliable or discredited and instead gave it significant weight in its decision.

The tribunal issued several orders to the strata, including paying Cuddington for his tribunal fees, completing repairs to several strata lots, ensuring they were done as quickly as possible, and approving funding for BMAC’s engineering services.