THE NEWEST NIGHTMARE

by Gerry Fanaken

Section 35 of the new Strata Property Act (Strata Corporation Records) requires the strata corporation to prepare and retain copies of a wide variety of documents which the Act refers to as "records". These include minutes of meetings, a list of council members, names of tenants, assignment of voting rights and complete accounting records, just to highlight a few items. In addition to this, the strata corporation must retain the registered strata plan, a copy of the Act, the regulations to the Act, bylaws, rules, resolutions, waivers and consents, contracts, arbitrators' decisions, legal decisions and opinions, income tax returns, correspondence, bank statements, cancelled cheques and on and on and on. Essentially everything.

All of this makes good sense and, in reality, most strata corporations have always maintained this information simply because it is good business practice. Now it is the law. So far so good but here is the nightmare. Section 36 of the new Strata Property Act requires the Strata Corporation to provide access to all these records. Some of this material must be kept for two years; some for six years. Thus, if an owner, or a tenant for that matter, wants to see any of this stuff, he or she is entitled to do so without cost. The strata corporation must comply with this request within two weeks unless the request has to do with a bylaw or a rule, then that request must be met within one week. Section 36(1) requires the Strata Corporation not only to make this material available for inspection, but also to provide copies of that material to the owner or tenant. The Strata Corporation can charge not more than 25¢ per copy as is provided in Regulation 4.2.

Just stop for a minute and think about what you have just read. We now have owners and tenants requesting every document that the Strata Corporation has in its possession. In one strata corporation of more than 200 units that I manage, you can imagine that the number of documents referred to is enormous. We estimate that it exceeds 10,000 separate items. While it is true that the fee of 25¢ per copy has to be paid first, I have an owner who has requested all of this material and is apparently quite prepared to pay the fee. We have determined that there is no specific reason that this owner wants the material; he is simply motivated by a desire to get under the skin of the strata council and management company. The strata council has no option in this matter and they must provide this material to the owner and it must be done within two weeks. What a nightmare!

When the new Strata Property Act was written, it was designed in part to enhance consumer protection. I wonder if the legislators actually thought about this type of nightmare.

Gary Fanaken is a property manager with Vancouver Condominium Services