Who is "Watching" Your Strata Corporation?

     Who is really watching over or "Managing" your Strata Corporation?  The legal managers of your Strata Corporation are your Strata Council, and not your’re Strata Management Company (SMC) or Strata Manager.    It is your Strata Council and Owners who will be held legally responsible should they not comply with the Strata Property Act (SPA).

      It has been brought to our attention that some Strata Managers reassure Strata Councils that "Errors & Omissions Insurance" will pay the legal costs should the Strata Council be sued by a owner or ?.

   This is not entirely true, should your Strata Corporation be sued for fraud, malice or discriminatory acts against an owner your Strata Council may not be covered by errors and omissions insurance and the individual Strata Council member may face enormous legal bills and quite possibly lose their property in foreclosure to pay legal costs.

     We suggest to all Strata Councils to hire a lawyer or retain a law firm who has no affiliation with your SMC, and to write into your strata bylaws that your Strata Corporation must have its own legal counsel outside of your management company.   We also suggest that all bylaws be reviewed by legal council before they are proposed to the owners.    Recently a well known Strata Manager wrote a bylaw owners would only be allowed to hold three proxies at a AGM/SGM.   RECBC makes it clear Representitives are not allowed to give legal counsel or advice and this Strata Manager does it all the time, and although his rogue council was found to be illegal and he was fired, the Strata Manager went ahead and filed the bylaw in Land Titles Office (LTO), knowing full well he could do this with impunity.    This Strata Manager's Company is a member of the Strata Property Agents of BC (SPABC)and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) also makes claims to be a professional, he has proven he is a amoral character and a bully.    We will have more on this at a later date.    This bylaw was written by the Strata Manager to protect his own interest and not the owners.   And yet again another very nasty bylaw which prevents owners from voting at AGM/SGM’s is one that states if a owner owes fines or maintenance fee’s they lose their rights to vote.    In a professionally managed Strata Corporations, the only time a Strata Property Owner would lose a vote is if the lien was placed on the property for arrears in maintenance fees or special levies only after the lien was filed with LTO.   Stratawatch also discovered when the Strata Property Act was first implemented in 2000, many of the standard set of bylaws included with the act were altered by the SMC before they were presented to Strata Councils, many altered bylaws were changed in favor of the SMC before they were approved by the owners.

     Over the next year Stratawatch will publish a series of articles on “Dirty Deeds” by Strata Management Companies. Please keep in mind the dirty deeds are only done by a few.    Stratawatch is providing you with a list of Management companies and it is the due diligence of Strata Council to interview and to select the professional management company.    The Quality of your strata living is directly associated with the quality of your Strata Council and the Strata Management Company you hire.    Quality and Professionalism should be the utmost in your decision.

---

Please note, stratawatch.ca website is going through continual development stages, you may read articles on the stratawatch site only for it to be changed after online editing is completed from outside editors.  Please bookmark stratawatch.ca and thankyou for all of the supportive comments.  The site is built by volunteers, and our lead volunteer has been dealing with carpal tunnel syndrome.  Also FYI there is no outside funding provided to stratawatch.ca.   Should you have a complaint against your strata manager or Strata Management Company please contact us, all complaints are kept confidential.