"Owners Experiences"

      After a construction project (2003) I discovered the strata president was getting paid by a secret deal with the strata agent for construction work he never did.    I gathered up the minutes and and also discovered that Rich Coleman was the alleged developer of our strata in Aldergrove (1995), apparently our strata townhomes were built as rentals and Mr. Coleman converted these to a strata development.    It was noted that a owner who also was also the rent collector (1995), moved his fence line.    He moved his fence line so he would have a much larger backyard.    This came to my attention, because at the time he also added a shed to his yard without permission from strata council.    This owner stated he had written permission from Rich Colemen to move his fence line.    Our minutes read Council had contacted Mr. Coleman and he replied he never gave the owner permission.    The same owner managed to get on council and today 2010 he still has a shed and a larger back yard.    The same owner also made statements he was not going to do f**k all for the owners who opposed him.    Irony that Mr. Coleman wants stratas to have rentals when he converted his......Chelsea Court Aldergrove


    My experience with the owner of two apartments in one property,(1) was to appoint himself chairman of the strata.(2) rent both of his apartments to dog owners in a no pets allowed building. This act caused the strata,having to allow the dog owners to remain in the building ,with four untrained animals left unattended while the owners were at work. This seems to be prevalent in the City of Victoria. This is disgraceful. I have now moved from the property described.  Victoria


    "I moved into my condo in 2005 and was soon coerced into serving on the strata council which I did for three terms, two as V.P. and one as President. I put in close to 40 hours a week becoming acquainted with our bylaws and the Strata Property Act and working with our strata manager, owners and other council members. The results of my efforts did not go unnoticed. Our condo has 80 units and we do not have a resident caretaker. The owners of our long term (35 years) management company retired and the strata interviewed and selected a new property management company. Considerable effort went into negotiating and drawing up a contract in light of extra services we required in the absence of a resident caretaker. However the management company has not provided the services we have negotiated and agreed upon. A delegation from the council met with the management company six months into the contract to express our concerns and see how we could achieve a win-win situation. Result: we were humoured and nothing has changed. 

     Like many stratas, it is difficult to get owners to serve on the council. Many of the owners in our strata are aged (over 70). Many are afraid to speak up or contact the council with matters that affect them because they don't want the backlash. A number of owners have voiced their concerns to me and being thick-skinned, I have taken their concerns to the council. I have served as a resource person to the new president at her request and have received dozens of emails soliciting my advice. I admired this approach and would highly recommend that when the SPA is reviewed, it should take into consideration that there needs to be some continuity on the council from year-to-year. Perhaps created a mandatory position of "past president". On several occasions, in an effort to educate, I have brought to the president's attention that the council's actions might be in contravention of the SPA. 

     In June I was contacted by the new property manager and advised to cease and desist sending harrassing emails or letters to counci members. I responded immediately with an apology and pointed out that I believed my input was not only welcomed but had been invited (I have many emails attesting to this), but certainly did not intend to be "harrassing". On July 26th the council sent me a letter signed by all but one council member (who refused to sign)serving me notice to stop "harrassing" the council members. It went on to say that respectful, meaningful communication would be welcome. Despite an email, my apology and later a letter from the council an entry appeared in the minutes mid-August that "an owner had been requested to stop sending harrassing notices to the strata." Needless to say, most owners know who this entry refers to because I am the only one that is not afraid to speak up. 

     As a result, many of those owners are now reluctant to speak to me and when they see me approach, they turn and walk away. This behaviour has a negative effect on my day to day life. Not having learned my lesson and obviously not understanding what is "respectful, meaningful communication I recently forwarded some info from your website regarding "What each person can do to bring pressure on the Gov't to have a public forum for changes to the SPA" and asked the council to consider putting this info in the next minutes. Furthermore I expressed my concern about an entry in the last minutes which said "the strata council has made an exemption to the occupancy Bylaw in this one instance becauses the purchaser's realtor did not know there was an occupancy restriction." I pointed out my concern that this entry to be read by all could establish a precedent and possibly result in charges of discrimination if others were not allowed the same concession. I suggested to avoid misunderstandings,that the minutes be corrected to read, "an owner has applied for an exception to the occupany bylaw and the matter would be presented to the owners at the next AGM". None of my requests were granted but once again the manager put the following entry in the minutes "Council received several letters from an owner on various issues. This owner has been advised previously that no response will be given to these harassing letters and none will be given at this time." I have not been advised that no response will be given and I fail to see why my interest in strata matters is being construed as "harrassing". The contents of my letters have not been shared with the owners who naturally are curious. I believe the approach of the council is to "gag" me and keep this information away from the other owners." 

West Vancouver