Parking Disputes

In an interesting dispute, an owner sued her strata in the CRT for changing which stall was the designated handicapped parking space: Ehrne v The Owners, Strata Plan VR 2601, 2017 CRTBC 2.

On the strata plan the strata originally had a common property stall designated as a handicapped stall, the other stalls were designated as limited common property by special resolution and had been that way since 1990. In 2014, the strata painted over the common property handicapped parking sign and it was assigned to a new owner. The City of North Vancouver demanded that the strata reinstate a disability parking stall as required by the City bylaws. In response, the strata placed a sign above Ehrne's LCP parking stall designating it as a handicapped stall. Ehrne disputed the strata's decision and requested that the original CP handicapped stall be reinstated, the strata refused.

The CRT found that the strata did not have the authority to paint over the original handicapped parking stall and assign it to an owner for two main reasons:
  1. The strata is required to have at least 1 handicapped parking stall as per the city bylaws; and
  2. The painting over of the handicapped sign was a significant change in the use of the common property and required 3/4 vote approval, which had not been sought or granted by the strata.
Further, the CRT found that the strata did not have the right to designate Ehrne's LCP parking stall as a handicapped stall because the parking stall was LCP and a 3/4 vote approval was required to remove that designation, making her stall as the handicapped designated stall invited others to use her LCP which is a breach of her right to exclusive use of the LCP.

As a result, the strata was ordered to restore the original handicapped parking stall and remove the sign from the owner's LCP stall.





TAEYA FITZPATRICK

Taeya Fitzpatrick has specialized in strata law for most of her practice, has won cases for her clients in the BC Supreme Court, the BC Court of Appeal, and assisted with a client succeeding in defending a Civil Resolution Tribunal claim. Taeya offers full services to a strata corporation or a strata owner from redrafting the strata’s bylaws, collection of outstanding strata fees or other charges, issues with bylaw enforcement, to amending the strata plan. For more information on the services provided, you can reach Taeya by email, phone: 250-763-4323, or at her Web Page.  

Comments

Popular Posts