STRATA MANAGER LICENSING — WHAT'S THE STATUS?
by the Homeowner Protection Office

Support for potential strata manager licensing has increased over the last few years. This article reviews how this potential licensing scheme has evolved over the past few years and indicates the current status of the situation.

Currently, property managers must be licensed to manage rental units; however, a licence is not required to manage strata properties. Many stakeholders have expressed concern with respect to the potential vulnerability of strata corporations who hire unregulated firms to manage finances and hold strata funds.

The first Barrett Commission report on the Quality of Residential Construction in British Columbia was released in 1998. This report recommended the licensing of strata property managers by the Homeowner Protection Office.

Since the release of that report, the provincial government decided in 1998 that licensing would be undertaken by the Real Estate Council of B.C. through an amendment of the Real Estate Act. Realtors and rental property managers are currently required to be licensed by the Real Estate Council. The Ministry of Finance administers the Real Estate Act. The amendment to the Real Estate Act was never brought into force.

Recommendations from the second Barrett Commission on the Quality of Residential Construction in 2000 restated the Barrett I recommendation that the Homeowner Protection Office should take on the licensing function after proper consultation with industry.

The purpose of licensing and regulating strata managers would be to:

• ensure that strata managers have minimum appropriate skills and knowledge to provide strata management services to strata corporations
• ensure that strata managers are more accountable for their management of the common property, assets and affairs of strata corporations, and
• exempt self-managed stratas from the requirements of licensing.

On October 16, 2000 a white paper was released by both the former Ministry of Social Development and Economic Security and the Ministry of Finance proposing regulatory options administered by either the Homeowner Protection Office the under the Homeowner Protection Act or the Real Estate Council of B.C. under the Real Estate Act.

Following the white paper and a month-long consultation process, the Province announced in April 2001 that it had selected the Homeowner Protection Office to administer strata manager licensing. Enabling legislation to allow the Homeowner Protection Office to license strata managers under the Homeowner Protection Act was also introduced at that time.

What's happening now? The Homeowner Protection Office, like all Crown corporations, agencies, boards and commissions is participating in the provincial core services review process. All entities subject to the core services review process must address three key questions for each mandate area:

• Is there a compelling public interest to continue?
• Is it affordable? and
• Must the provincial government deliver the program?

The HPO anticipates that the Core Review and Deregulation Task Force, chaired by the Premier, will address the HPO in May 2002. A decision by the task force may, or may not, have an impact on the Homeowner Protection Office's future operations or delivery mechanisms. As a result, the development of the strata manager licensing regulations has been on hold pending the outcome of the Homeowner Protection Office Core Services Review.

In the meantime, all other program areas of the Homeowner Protection Office are continuing as usual. The end of 2001 marked a change in focus for the office. In addition to building envelope issues our research and education efforts will concentrate more on other issues of home warranty insurance and improved residential construction quality.

Although leaky condos remain an important issue with an estimated 25,000 homes still to be repaired, declining participation at our previously well-attended public Condominium Repair Process Seminars indicates that the saturation point has been reached. Consequently, the office will rely on its on-going, evening, on-site strata meetings at individual leaky buildings as the means providing education on the repair process and financial assistance programs.

Research and education efforts in building science are also well underway. The results of several recently completed research projects were presented at an all-day symposium for the industry to ensure that the information is available to people who use it in the field. Consumers as well as homebuilders are the beneficiaries of the research and education activities of the office, which are improving the quality of residential building design and construction.

We continue to provide no-interest repair loans and PST Relief Grants to help owners of leaky homes avoid foreclosures due to the cost of building envelope repairs. Over time, the value of these repaired homes will increase.

The need for the Homeowner's Reconstruction Loan program continues to be strong. The decreasing number of applications received each month also signals that we likely have reached the peak of the repair work that must be performed. As of March 31, 2002, we have approved 6,862 homeowner loans and 32 co-operative housing loans, representing an additional 1,848 homes, and totaling over $216 million in financial assistance.

As of March 31, there were 2,881 licensed residential builders and 74 licensed building envelope renovators in the province. Building permits representing over 32,000 new homes have been applied for under the Homeowner Protection Act consumer protection regulations. The office continues to monitor the five private-sector home warranty insurance providers.

Information about the Homeowner Protection Office and its programs can be obtained by contacting the toll-free information line at 1-800-407-7757 or by visiting the Web site at www.hpo.bc.ca.