Townhouse owner wins court case against strata over parking changes
The allocation of parking stalls at strata properties around Canada is a big deal for residents, generally regarding matters of convenience and accessibility, and one townhouse owner took his strata corporation to court over the issue.
Elvis Muzina filed a dispute with the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal about allocating parking stalls at a townhouse where he owns a unit.
Muzina claims that the strata acted unfairly and contrary to the Strata Property Act (SPA) by changing limited common property (LCP) parking stalls to visitor parking and common property (CP) stalls to owner parking.
Muzina asked the tribunal to order that the strata move one of his parking stalls closer to his unit or reverse its decision.
In this case, the strata claimed it acted reasonably and in compliance with the SPA in allocating parking stalls and that Muzina was informed about the changes.
“I find the strata did not comply with the SPA in repainting the far LCP stalls’ lines to create seven parking stalls, and in labelling six of those seven stalls as visitor parking, without passing a unanimous resolution as required by section 257. I will address the appropriate remedy for this below,” states the tribunal decision.
It said that by resizing the LCP stalls and permitting visitor parking in them, the strata interfered with the LCP designated as it was laid out initially in the strata plan, encroaching on the owners’ right to exclusive use of the LCP.
The tribunal found that the strata needed to take action to remedy the SPA breaches. The tribunal also acknowledged that reversing all of the changes would come at a cost to the strata, so as a potential remedy, suggested the owners get an opportunity to vote on the changes first.
“Within six months of the date of this decision, I order the strata to repaint the lines and stall numbers on the far LCP stalls to be consistent with the strata plan, and to remove any signage indicating the far LCP stalls are visitor parking, unless the strata has passed a unanimous resolution under section 257 of the SPA to remove the LCP designation from the far LCP stalls,” the tribunal concluded.
The strata was ordered to reimburse Muzina’s tribunal fees of $225.
Click here for the entire case decision.