A B.C. man initiated a legal dispute against his strata to try to overturn the building’s weed bylaws.
According to the Civil Resolution Tribunal dispute decision, DR sought an order against his strata to revert the bylaws around smoking weed in the building to what they were before an amendment that deemed it illegal to do so.
He sought an alternate order for the strata to grant him a medical exemption to the bylaw.
In defence, the strata told the tribunal it gave its residents an adequate heads-up about the bylaw amendment and that it was “duly passed.”
In response to his other order, the strata claimed that DR didn’t provide sufficient medical evidence that he required an exemption.
“Bylaw 4.8 prohibits smoking of any kind, including marijuana, on the common property, limited common property or in a strata lot,” the tribunal decision notes.
DR’s main argument was that because he lived in the unit when the bylaws were amended, he should’ve been able to abide by the old bylaws.
“The Strata Protection Act (SPA) only creates retroactive bylaw exemptions in limited circumstances that do not include smoking bylaws. There is no general provision in the SPA that allows a particular strata lot to rely on prior bylaws,” the tribunal pointed out.
The strata actually told DR they were willing to hear out his argument about a medical exemption. DR refused to offer more information about his disability or medical condition that required him to consume cannabis.
Ultimately, the tribunal decided that DR “has not proved the need for accommodation” and dismissed that claim. The tribunal also determined that DR could not rely on prior laws to be allowed to smoke weed in his B.C. strata building.
DR’s claims were dismissed with no order being made by the tribunal.