A COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE STRATA PROPERTY ACT

Reviewed by Ron Dowle

As the blurb for this book says, it is a resource for condominium owners, strata councils, real estate and legal professionals. Mike Mangan, the author, is a Vancouver lawyer specializing in real estate. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of British Columbia where he teaches Real Estate law. During the transition from the old Condominium Act to the Strata Property Act he devised and made numerous presentations to Real Estate professionals and others. He takes the reader through all aspects of the Strata Property Act. The Act is explained in precise, careful terms but without lawyers jargon. An attempt to read through the Strata Property Act will give most non-lawyers a violent headache, reading this manual will require careful attention but the attentive reader will end up with a good knowledge of the Strata Property Act.

Few condominium owners will want to read the 400 pages of this Manual from cover to cover but it is laid out with clear headings and sub-headings and there is a comprehensive index, so that a needed topic is easy to find-not always the case when the

Strata Property Act

Where a subject is referred to in more than one Section of the Strata Property Act the Condominium Manual brings the threads together. It also explains the effect of other legislation on the Act. The Elizabethan poet John Donne said "No man is an island entire of itself"; nor is any Act "entire of itself", and where other legislation affects the Strata Property Act; the ubiquitous Income Tax Act, the Human Rights Code or other legislation listed in the index, this is explained. Relevant case law is cited throughout the book. The Manual would be useful on the table at every Strata Council meeting, handy for reference as required. It is published by the BC Real Estate Association, 309-1155 West Pender Street, Vancouver B.C., V6E 2P4 and costs $29.95 plus tax. It is available in most libraries. It can be ordered though any good book store, though not all carry it on their shelves.