B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has ordered an owner to pay $13,193 in fines and legal costs in a dispute about him parking a recreational vehicle (RV) on bare strata property.
Gerry Stehle co-owns a strata lot in a bare land strata corporation and said the strata told him to remove the RV from the lot in 2022, tribunal member Kate Campbell said in her Oct. 31 decision.
He said he was exempted from bylaw parking restrictions under terms of his 2004 purchase agreement with the owner-developer. He said that exemption was to be for as long as he owned the property.
He asked Campbell for an order that the strata stop demanding that he remove his RV.
The strata, however, said Stehle routinely violates the bylaw, that the terms of the purchase agreement between Stehle and the owner-developer are not binding on the strata, and that he is not exempt from the bylaw.
In a counterclaim, the strata claimed Stehle installed an unapproved gravel RV parking pad that encroached onto common property.
The strata requested orders that Stehle stop parking his RV and pay $8,600 in bylaw fines, survey costs, and legal fees incurred in enforcing its bylaws.
Campbell found Stehle is bound by the bylaw and it is not unfair for the strata to enforce it.
She said the strata did not make the promise to Stehle and that it is not bound by the owner-developer’s promises.
Campbell ordered Stehle to pay $600 in bylaw fines, $787 for a land survey, $11,623 reimbursement for legal fees and $125 in tribunal fees.
