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Read the latest condo judgments, case summaries and comments at The Condo
Chronicles beginning October, 2010.
WELCOME to the world of condominiums, especially in B.C., which excludes from its legislation even the most basic consumer
protections available in jurisdictions such as Ontario and Alberta, earning the Left Coast a well-deserved reputation as Canada's
fraud capital.
Indeed, in McMafia, A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld, author Misha Glenny writes that
B.C. has more organized crime per capital than anywhere else in the world!
When you buy a condo, you are not just buying one apartment or townhouse. You're undertaking a share of the expenses toward the
repair and maintenance of the entire complex, which may include huge legal fees for leaky condo and other assorted strata governance disputes -
foreclosing on neighbors who can't or won't pay monthly strata fees or the special levies required for major repairs, for example.
When you buy a condo, you're putting your faith in the word of strangers with wildly different goals and property interests
about whether and how the property has been/is being managed, a mystery that is rarely clarified by even the most earnest review of
strata records.
When you buy a condo, you're laying odds against the likelihood in the midst of a decades-old 'leaky condo' epidemic that has
infected highrise, low-rise, condos, co-ops and even quite a few new single-family homes that the condo will fail, which could mean a
long, expensive legal battle - if you're lucky and you can still locate defendant developer, architect, builders - the outcome of which
may not adequately cover repair costs once all the lawyers and expert witnesses have been paid.
Before you buy a condo, you've got to ask yourself one question. Do you feel lucky?
Note the vast number of judgments involving lawyers' applications to submit fees and disbursements, which may include a bill for
parking fees and even photocopies! We found one recent small claim decision
(see Armstrong and Thiessen) regarding a condo that involved legal fees totalling an eye-popping $18,500!
Note, too, that finally getting one's proverbial day in court may not end a strata governance dispute. In
Jeffries et al v. Henderson et al 0318 2009 BCPC 010,
the court declined defendant's wish to refer the matter to B.C. Supreme Court, which would have upped time and costs considerably,
probably prohibitively. Fair enough, but then litigants were ordered to attend mediation at something called the 'Dispute
Resolution Practicum Society of B.C.,' which likely resolved the matter expensively to no one's satisfaction with decisions
by mere 'trained but inexperienced mediators,' as the Web site referred to its personnel Oct. 17/10 - decisions that would be
nevertheless no doubt quite difficult to appeal.
As P.T. Barnum famously put it, there's one born every minute!
Consider Oldaker v. The Owners, Strata Plan VR 1008,
2010 BCCA 241, in which an owner had to sue to compel his Pendrell Place, 1819 Pendrell St., strata corporation to repair the premises,
which had been professionally assessed a leaky condo way back in 1998.
And yes, it's OK to advertise leaky condos without properly identifying them. Here is a recent video of a unit in
downtown Victoria's Metroplitan condo complex that makes no mention of the fact that it's a leaky condo now the subject of typical
leaky condo litigation (see The Owners, Strata Plan No. VIS3578 v. John A.
Neilson Architects Inc., 2010 BCCA 329).
Luxury, forsooth!
Condos, especially leaky condos, have provided a rich stream of income to the local bar, which may explain why lawyers have not
been especially vocal advocates of consumer reform here in B.C. More about B.C. condo lawyers, who may be on all sides of a condo
transaction, at condominiums.
The Owner's Guide to B.C. Condominiums - 2010 with annual updates.
More about the report, including the Table of Contents.
Submit a condo inquiry.
A 21-page report by Leo Biblitz, LLB, representing more than seven years' moderating the non-profit consumer advocacy site,
www.bccondos.ca, to give prospective condo buyers everywhere all the information we wish we would have had when Biblitz bought his own leaky condo in Kitsilano in the
early '90s!
What every buyer entering the shark-infested condo market should know about maintenance, interpreting
strata records and, most important, other owners.
Although it's aimed primarily at B.C., the report provides a framework the prudent consumer may apply to assess condo legislation,
rules and construction issues in just about any jurisdiction where there are condos!
This report will show readers where there are often gaps in strata records and sellers' representations. At the very least, you'll
know what questions to ask to ensure price adequately/accurately reflects buyer's risk.
The report is available for sale as a pdf at a price of $25 (twenty-five Canadian dollars). Download the report as soon as you
complete the easy, secure PayPal payment process. It's that simple!
The report is intended for individual use only. Distribution/republication is prohibited; however, pricing for distribution of
the report to a wider audience, such as a strata corporation, is also available from the Webmaster. Please send inquiries to
dennis_boyko@yahoo.ca. By clicking on the PayPal
Buy Now icon below, you are agreeing to these terms.
Various 'leaky condo' reconstruction/rehabilitation/renovation sites along W. 7th Avenue at Oak Street, Vancouver's
'Boulevard of Broken Dreamsm' on March 29/06. Turn your gaze across the sparkling blue Burrard Inlet and you'll see the familiar green nets
topped with protective white capping over at least two highrises - 431 Pacific and Parkview Towers, 289 Drake St. (see below) A subsequent
visit to W. 7th Avenue between Oak and Cambie on New Year's Eve, 2009 revealed few changes. Every second or third complex
appeared to have succumbed - not all for the first time, either, according to several residents and business owners we
talked to.
289 Drake St. under tarps. Highrises typically take longer to reveal 'leaky condo syndrome,' but these, too, have failed
in devastating, record number.
Where Water Comes Together With Other Water
Hardcover
By Raymond Carver
This much is clear to me now - even then
our days were numbered. ...
When we left that house where nothing worked
any longer, we left at midnight
with a U-Haul trailer and a lantern.
Who knows what passed through the neighbors' minds
when they saw a family leaving their house
in the middle of the night?
The lantern moving behind the curtainless
windows. The shadows going from room to room,
gathering their things into boxes.
I saw firsthand
what frustration can do to a man.
Make him weep, make him throw his fist
through a wall. Set him to dreaming
of the house that's his
at the end of the long road. A house
filled with music, ease, and generosity.
A house house that hasn't been lived in yet.
(From Our First House in Sacramento, pgs. 24-25)
Pretty infamous! Robertson Davies in his delightful alter ego as Sam Marchbanks poked fun at them years ago when B.C.'s
real estate industry was still in short pants.
Samuel Marchbanks' Almanack
Hardcover
By Robertson Davies
To Amyas Pilgarlic, ESQ.
Dear Pil:
... Upon arrival in Vancouver, the first thing to meet my eye was a notice, signed by the Chief of Police, warning me against
confidence tricksters. It told me in detail how I might expect them to work. I would be approached, first of all, by someone who would try to
make friends: this would be "The Steerer" who would eventually steer me to "The Spieler," who would sell me Stanley Park or the harbour at a
bargain price. Not long after I had read this I was approached by a crafty-looking woman carrying a handful of pasteboards. "Juwanna buy
four chances on the Legion car?" she cried, blocking my way. "Madam, you are wasting your time," said I; "I know you for what you are - a
Steerer." She shrank away, muttering unpleasantly. Never let it be said that Marchbanks failed to heed a warning. ....
(-- pgs. 109-110)