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Recent Amendments made to the Strata Property Act

Further to advisories sent out by The Canadian Condominium Institute (CCI), Strata Property Agents of BC (SPABC) (information from both of which are included below) and others this past week, please be advised that there have been amendments to the Strata Property Act (SPA). These amendments were included in the Natural Gas Amendment Bill (Bill 12: Natural Gas Development Statues Amendment Act) which has received Royal Assent as of April 9^th. The amendments to SPA (in sections 39 – 44 of the bill) take effect as of that date.  

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Changes to the Strata Property Act – An Update

 In 2009, the BC Provincial Government announced several significant changes to the Strata Property Act.  The amendments had three main components which were written about and widely publicized.  They were:

–         A requirement that strata corporations conduct a Depreciation Report, a subject we have written about on many occasions;

–          The creation of a Dispute Resolution Tribunal, which has not yet come into force but which is still being worked on, and;

–          A requirement that strata corporations perform an audit of their financial statements on an annual basis.

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The Third Annual Stratawest Christmas Toy Drive

With incredible support from our staff and industry colleagues alike, Stratawest is proud to have blown the doors off the North Shore Christmas Bureau for the third year running.  The response to our Toy Drive this year was again awe-inspiring, with amazingly generous donations of toys, musical instruments, gift cards, sporting equipment, iPods and other items for needy families… there was actually more than the picture below shows and it continues to come in!  

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We were advised this week by the Office of Housing & Construction Standards (Ministry of Natural Gas Development and Minister Responsible for Housing) that on December 12, 2013 the Province brought into force legislative amendments to allow strata corporations with majority support to apply to the BC Supreme Court to require strata owners to pay for certain repairs. 

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Please make note of the following important dates for the upcoming festive season.

Friday, December 13, 2013 – Staff Lunch, office closed at 10:00 a.m.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013 – Office Closed at 12:00 Noon.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013 – Office Closed

Thursday, December 26, 2013 – Office Closed

Friday, December 27, 2013 – Office Closed

Tuesday, December 31, 2013 – Office Closed at 12:00 Noon.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014 – Office Closed

Thursday, January 2, 2014 – Office Re-Opens

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Exciting Industry News: The RCM Designation comes to British Columbia

Stratawest would like to acknowledge and congratulate six members of our property management staff for the successful completion of the Registered Condominium Manager (RCM) curriculum and, accordingly, their recently received designation as RCM’s.  Those Property Managers are: Linda MacSeafraidh, Monica Dare, Adam Lord, Muryn Merta, Jason Kurtz and Cory Pettersen. Stratawest is a strong supporter of ongoing education for property managers and we are very proud to have the highest concentration of RCM designates of any firm in B.C.

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The National Fire Protection Association (a US body) has put together a list of tips and considerations for Halloween fire safety.  These are very relevant to strata corporations which are becoming increasingly popular family residences with lots of young children running around in full costume.

We thought we’d share those tips with you at this link.

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Quite often, there is an awkward moment towards the end of Annual General Meetings where neighbours look at each other and wonder who would be crazy enough to volunteer for the Strata Council.  Thankfully, most Strata Corporations have enough interested owners to fill out the Council; however, there are many buildings where this is unfortunately not the case.  Prior to those particular elections and during the call of nominations, crickets chirp and tumbleweeds roll.  Usually, some brave soul will step up to the plate and be the first to raise their hand to volunteer or perhaps will be “volun-told” by their significant other. Then a neighbour will be cajoled because they have a background in accounting, or law, or construction, and will eventually acquiesce. On it goes, and eventually enough hands are raised to elect a council made up of neighbours.

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Please note that this post is outdated, but still contains useful information. An important update to this post can be found here as the Regulations referred to below have been amended.

We have previously written on the amendments to the Strata Property Act requiring all strata corporations to obtain a Depreciation Report by December 2013.

If you live in a strata corporation which has obtained a Depreciation Report already, you’re no doubt familiar with the various funding scenarios they present.  At least one of those scenarios will involve a very substantial increase in the amount of money your strata corporation puts away into the Contingency Reserve Fund (CRF).  Depending on the size of the strata corporation, there could be millions of dollars put away over the 30 year time horizon to fund capital renewals of expensive common elements such as windows, walls, mechanical equipment and waterproofing.  This money will get put away gradually over time, again depending on the nuances of the scenario itself, and accrue interest at a given rate.  Strata Corporations also have the advantage of being able to invest money tax free, because they are ‘not for profit’.  So, money invested by your Strata Corporation is not taxed when in a Strata account (while it would be if each individual owner invested the money on their own and then pooled it later on via a special levy).

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First off, a disclaimer- we are not lawyers, nor do we offer legal advice.  We usually point this out, but it’s especially critical when we write about legal statutes.  An industry colleague of ours, Veronica Franco at Clark Wilson LLP provided our staff with an in-house seminar on the new Limitation Act recently and has prepared an excellent primer on what we discuss below. You can find it here.  Our purpose in discussing this is to elaborate on some of the practical consequences facing your strata corporation and our industry as a result of this new Act.

On June 1st, 2013, a new Limitation Act came into force in British Columbia.  One of the primary aims of the new Act was to bring it in line with similar statutes across the country.

Because we’re not lawyers, we’ll steer clear from a broad commentary on the Act and focus on one important subject: the new Act’s consequences for Strata Corporations collecting arrears.

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