B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has ordered three Vancouver strata unit co-owners to pay $8,500 for violating rental bylaws.
In the , tribunal vice-chair J. Garth Cambrey said Wendy Chow, Patricia Fong and Troy Gebhart rented out their unit contrary to rental restriction bylaws between June and November 2022.
The strata sought payment of $9,500 in bylaw fines.
The owners said the strata approved the unit rental as one of 12 rental strata lots under its bylaws.
Chow also owns another unit in the building.
The strata alleged that Chow, when she was strata council member, adjusted the wait list for strata lot rentals by inserting the contested unit in place of another strata lot owned by her sister.
The strata alleged Chow was in a conflict of interest when she changed the wait list and failed to disclose the conflict contrary to the Strata Property Act.
“Ms. Chow disagrees and says she was simply correcting an administrative error,” Cambrey said.
Cambrey declined to address that allegation, saying B.C. Supreme Court has found the tribunal has no authority to deal with the accountability of council members for actions taken while performing their duties, including not disclosing conflicts of interest.
Cambrey said the three purchased the unit on May 25, 2017.
“They immediately rented it out to Mr. Gebhart’s parents who were tenants until May 2022 when they moved out,” Cambrey said.
They then rented out the unit to unrelated tenants staring on July 1, 2022.
It was then that the strata manager wrote to them advising they had rented out the unit in breach of bylaw limiting rentals to 12 suites. The letter also said that they failed to obtain the strata council’s written permission, contrary to the bylaw.
The letter said noted they could be subject to fines of $500 every seven days.
The owners requested a council hearing, which was held July 25, 2022.
On Aug. 4, 2022, the strata manager wrote to the owners advising of the strata council’s decision to impose $500 bylaw fines, including fines on a continuing basis.
Cambrey ruled the trio breached the bylaw. He calculated the amount of fines due as $8,500 and ordered the owners to pay it.
