Tenancy Application Form
Summer has finally arrived! And on the Sunshine Coast, part of the summer ritual is the barbequing of fresh sea food, premium grade steaks and a vegetarian delight of summer fresh veggies and fruit.
On one of those perfect summer evenings, Joe, a tenant in a bareland strata, popped a cold one, hauled out his Propane Ultimate Man Grill with a 60,000 BTU 6 burner system and proceeded to grill a 20 lb. salmon he had caught earlier that day, along with a bucket of prawns and 2 inch T-bones.
He invited his entire baseball and hockey team for a “Welcome Summer” bash. A brisk breeze carried the smoke, odours and noise from the BBQ to a neighbouring strata lot, where Joy, the owner, was relaxing in her hammock,
reading the Dummies Guide to Meditation.
Joy was offended by the intrusion to her serenity and she promptly marched over to the residence of the strata council president, demanding that the tenant be told to stop immediately.
There is a misconception out there that bareland strata corporations don’t have bylaws like townhouse or apartment style stratas do. However, a strata is a strata is a strata, whether it is a townhouse, apartment, commercial or bare land. This particular strata corporation had a bylaw prohibiting barbeques, along with the nuisance bylaw under the Standard Bylaws.
Joe refused to quit his barbequing as his landlord had never notified him of the bylaws and went on to have similar weekend events.
Eventually, the strata council fined Joe $200 for breach of the bylaws, which Joe also refused to pay.
The landlord and owner of the strata lot ended up paying the fine. As he had not given the tenant a set of the bylaws along with a Form K as required under Section 46 of the Strata Property Act, the landlord could not recover the $200 fine from his tenant.
In fact, the tenant gave notice to vacate, and demanded reasonable moving costs, which he received under Section 46 3(a).
Happy grilling – but check those bylaws first! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at niina@holywell.ca.