A huge and increasing number of British Columbians are living in condominiums or strata developments. According to the BC Land Title & Survey Authority there are over 456,000 strata units in 23,000 strata developments in the province.

Sometimes people buy a strata unit as a lifestyle choice. Sometimes it is the only form of housing they can afford to own. Whatever the reason for the person buying into a strata development, this type of housing places the homeowner under the jurisdiction of a strata corporation and its council.

The strata corporation is initially governed by an owner developer and later by a strata council comprised of owners. It can “tax” by levying strata fees, decide how fees are to be spent, make bylaws governing the use of a strata unit, levy fines for bylaw infractions and decide what information it will release to owners. It essentially functions as a 4th level of government. As with the other 3 levels of government (federal, provincial and municipal), the operations of strata corporations are not without their problems.

However, mechanisms are in place to ensure both transparency and accountability in the operation of the other 3 levels of government. There is freedom of information legislation, an audited financial report, an ombudsman’s investigation and an auditor general’s review, to name only a few. Strata corporations and the developers who establish them are not subject to any of these. In the absence of such mechanisms, many strata owners are subject to:

· The hidden cost of “sweetheart deals” made with companies controlled by the owner developer while the owner developer was in control of the strata corporation,
· Strata council using funds in a manner prohibited by the Strata Property Act,
· Decisions made by the strata council while some members of the council were in conflict-of-interest,
· Decisions made by the strata council when these decisions should have been made by owners at a meeting of owners as required by the Strata Property Act,
· Denial of access to information by strata councils even where release of the information to an owner is specifically required by the Strata Property Act, and
· Material changes made to the strata development by the owner developer without any agreement with strata owners who purchased based on previous representations by the owner developer.

A strata owner with a grievance can sue the offending owner developer or the strata corporation, as the case may be. However, such a suit would typically pit the empty-pocketed strata owner against either the deep-pocketed developer or a strata corporation that can “tax” the owners to pay for its legal costs. For the strata owner, the arbitration provision under the Strata Property Act is too financially burdensome to be an accessible alternative to a lawsuit.

In British Columbia there is no effective agency or other mechanism to ensure transparency and accountability of owner developers and strata councils. There should be.

Deryk Norton, Director, Vancouver Island Strata Owners Association