Highlights from the minutes of the AGM for the Pacific Condominium Association of B. C.

President’s Report:

David Kristmanson paid a tribute to the late Bill Dypchey, acknowledging the tremendous contribution Bill had made to the Association over the years.

David noted that three directors had resigned due unforeseen personal reasons. He expressed his thanks to Karl Gregg, Ron Dowle and Fred Hardy for their valuable contribution to the Association. He noted that Karl would continue in his role as Publisher of the Condo Chronicle. Three other Directors have since been appointed and David welcomed Rita Enns, Caralee Randall and Louise Garneau to the Board.

David stated there is an urgent need for at least three more Directors as well as volunteers. The following Director positions are vacant, Education, Government Liaison, and Advertising. As well, there is a need for more volunteers to help in the office. Several of the Directors have full time jobs and are unable to take a turn to staff the office. Consequently we have had to cut the time the office is staffed to three afternoons per week.

Education Report:

David presented this report. Three mini-forums and three workshops were presented last year. David expressed thanks to Bill Dypchey, Fred Hardy and Shawn Smith for their help the education programs. David moved, Olga Duncan seconded that the Education Report be accepted. Carried.

Chronicle and Web Report:

David presented Karl Gregg’s report. Karl has been the publisher of the Chronicle for eleven years. The Chronicle is issued four times a year. Each issue has been twelve pages in length. Karl noted that there has been a loss of advertising revenue and publishing and mailing costs have increased. He personally delivers the Chronicle to members up to 64^th Avenue, but the rest are mailed out. Currently it costs between 75¢ and $1.00 to produce each copy of the Chronicle. Consequently he feels he should reduce the length of the Chronicle to eight pages, unless we can increase the number of advertisers. Peggy Mornan moved, Marg Pybus seconded that the Chronicle and Web report be accepted. Carried

Karl further asked that the membership authorise him to reduce the length of the Chronicle to eight pages. David moved, Marg Pybus seconded acceptance of this request. Discussion ensued with a suggestion that only Council members should receive the Chronicle and that they be requested to share their copies with their strata owners, or refer them to our web site. David explained that we know that not every strata owner will pick up their copy, leaving several copies that were eventually discarded, so the Board did make an executive decision to reduce the number of copies delivered to each strata. However, after we did this for one issue, we received requests from several stratas to send them the full number of copies. We also realize that not every one has access to the Web. After some more discussion it was moved by Lesley Leishman and seconded by Clarence Ross (The Carrington) that Karl be authorised to use his own judgement about the length of the Chronicle for each issue. Carried.

Financial Report:

Carol Wyatt presented the Treasurer’s report for 2006. She noted that some changes were made to more accurately reflect accounts receivable. She further noted that we ended the year with a small surplus. Moved by Carol Wyatt, seconded by Olga Pybus acceptance of the Treasurer’s report. Carried.

Election of Directors:

The President, David Kristmanson presented the slate of Directors and called for further nominations from the floor. There being no further nominations the following Directors were declared elected by acclamation:

David Kristmanson, Carol Wyatt, Peggy Mornan, Verna Sandison, Rita Enns, Caralee Randall, Louise Garneau

David again charged the members present to encourage their Strata Council members or owners to stand for the Board or to volunteer to work in the office for a few hours each week.

Guest Speaker:

David then introduced the Speaker, Patrick Williams of the law firm Clark Wilson LLP. Mr. Williams is a specialist in Condominium and Strata Law. He spoke on Collecting Strata Fees and Fines.

Mr. Williams began by explaining that a condominium and a strata are one and the same. Many people think that a condo is a multi-unit building while a strata is a town house development but they are both a strata and are governed the Strata Property Act of BC. The unique nature of strata living is that the owners share common property and common expenses. All owners are required to pay fees toward the upkeep of the common property. Each Strata develops bylaws and rules to govern day-to-day life in the Strata.

The Strata Property Act specifies the formula for determining the fees each strata lot will pay. The Act also allows each Strata Corporation to set its own bylaws and rules and provides regulations for the setting of fines and interest on late payment of fees. There are some things to remember when making bylaws or rules and when trying to collect interest and fines.

• Bylaws can apply to the Strata Lot and to the Common Property.
• Rules apply only to the Common Property.
• The Strata Corporation must have a bylaw in place in order to charge interest on late payment of fees.
• The Strata Corporation may fine for an infraction of a bylaw or rule but the Strata Property Act states that the owner must be notified in writing of the infraction and be given a chance to reply before charging the fine. See Sections 129-138, especially Sect. 135.
• The Strata Corporation cannot lien for non-payment of fines but may take the owner to Small Claims Court. They do not need a ¾ vote to do this.
• The courts are reluctant to find in favour of a large amount of fines, e.g., anything over $5,000 and will considerably reduce the amount of the fine, usually to around $2,000.
• If trying to collect a fine, it is better to take the owner to Small Claims Court when the fine is around $2-3,000 instead of letting the fine accumulate.
• Owners may be reluctant to put a complaint in writing as the Strata’s files may viewed by any owner. The solution here is to whiteout the name of the complainant when the correspondence is placed in the files.
• The Strata Corporation can lien for non-payment of fees. The lien may include the interest charged for non-payment.
• The Strata Corporation may sell a strata lot for unpaid fees and interest, but may not sell a strata lot for unpaid fines. However, the Strata Corporation can refuse to issue a Form F if the owner wants to sell. In this case the strata lot cannot be sold until the fine is paid and the Form F is issued.
• The Strata Corporation cannot evict an owner but may evict a tenant if the strata lot owner won’t.
• A lien ranks first in priority above all mortgages and the money owing to the Strata Corporation must be paid before any mortgage payment. If there is a mortgage on the property, the Strata Corporation must tell the Mortgage Company. They will pay the money owing to the Strata Corporation and will add this amount to the Mortgage.

The members present had many questions for Mr. Williams who answered them patiently. As we had gone beyond the time for which we had rented the room we had to reluctantly draw the meeting to a close. Peggy Mornan thanked Mr. Williams for his interesting and informative presentation.