A Burnaby condo owner who claimed $90,000 in damages after her strata's plumbers cut into her wall to access sewer pipes has been granted $500 by B.C.'s Civil Resolution Tribunal.
Guoyu Huang had appealed to the CRT, saying the strata at the Chancellor on Bennett Street in Metrotown should have to pay damages for loss of enjoyment of her apartment, loss of rent, and repair costs related to plumbing work on common property pipes, according to a ruling last month.
She also asked the tribunal to order her strata to stop using her apartment to access the pipes.
In May 2021, Huang said the strata's plumbing contractor cut access holes into her living room walls to get at the sewer pipes in order to install cleanouts, which plumbers use to clear blockages.
When the work was complete four months later, Huang alleged the strata refused to repair the drywall.
In March 2022, the plumber showed up at her apartment again, Huang said, this time to drain the same pipes through her bathroom, "allegedly on an emergency basis," according to ruling.
Huang said she had to sanitize her place after that work.
She claimed $30,000 in damages for loss of enjoyment of her property, $30,000 for repairs and $30,000 because she had intended to rent out the property but could not because the strata had left the wall unfinished and the pipes exposed.
The strata denied it had acted improperly in the case, saying it took the advice of its professionals, who recommended installing the cleanouts in Huang's living room wall.
The strata said Huang must allow both the alteration to her unit and routine sewer cleanouts.
Tribunal member Garth Cambrey agreed.
Cambrey noted the strata had an obligation under the Strata Property Act to maintain and repair common property pipes.
Huang argued the strata could have continued using cleanouts already located in the building's lobby ceiling to clear blockages, but Cambrey said the plumbing contractor had recommended Huang's unit as a less costly alternative because it didn't involve using scaffolding or scissor lifts for access – and Cambrey ruled it was reasonable for the strata to take the less costly alternative.
But Cambrey accepted that the unfinished condition of Huang's living room wall had been "stressful and emotionally upsetting to her" – even though she had declined the strata's solution of covering the pipes with a panel and provided no evidence to prove she intended to rent out her unit.
"I find it was not reasonable for the strata to leave the wall unfinished and the pipes exposed for such a lengthy period of time," he wrote.
Instead of $30,000 for loss of enjoyment of her property and $30,000 in lost rent, however, he awarded her $500.
And, instead of awarding Huang $30,000 for repairs, he gave the strata 90 days to repair Huang's wall at its own expense, including replacing the drywall, installing access panels to fully enclose the cleanouts, and painting the wall to match the existing colour "bearing in mind Ms. Huang's preferred options."
The strata was also ordered to cover Huang's tribunal fees.
The CRT is an online, quasi-judicial tribunal that hears strata property disputes and small claims cases.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on X/Twitter @CorNaylor
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