The B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal has ordered a Burnaby strata to give a tenant his money back after it fined him $200 for not removing snow from his deck and stairs and another $200 for not waiting for the building's parkade gate to close behind him when he entered the building.
The strata at Kingsgate Garden, a townhouse development at 7428 14th Ave. in Burnaby's Edmonds neighbourhood, fined renter Vahid Moradi a total of $400 for what it said were two different bylaw infractions, according to a tribunal decision last week.
In December 2022, the strata told Moradi he was required to remove snow from his deck and stairs or he might be fined – and he might keep getting fined until the snow was gone.
Three days later, the strata slapped the unit's account with a $200 fine.
The strata sent a letter to the numbered company that owns the townhouse saying the unit's occupants hadn't removed the snow from the deck as required by the bylaws.
The unit was hit with another $200 penalty a day later because Moradi had reportedly failed to stop and wait for the parkade gate to fully close behind him after he entered the building.
In an email, the strata manager (who is also a strata council member, according to the ruling) told Moradi he now owed $400, and if he didn't pay by the end of the month, the strata would deduct the money for his next rent payment.
"(The manager) said this meant Mr. Moradi would still owe $400 in rent, and if he did not pay it, he would receive an eviction notice for non-payment of rent," stated the ruling.
Moradi disputed the fines at a strata council hearing, but the strata declined to reverse the fines, so he appealed to the Civil Resolution Tribunal, an online, quasi-judicial tribunal that hears strata property disputes and small claims cases.
Moradi argued the bylaws he was supposed to have violated were not enforceable, and tribunal member Sarah Orr agreed.
She said the bylaws the strata had in place in December 2022 contained no specific obligations regarding snow removal or waiting for the parkade gates to close.
The strata wouldn't officially adopt those bylaws until January 2024.
Orr ordered Kingsgate Garden to pay Moradi back $400.
She also ordered the strata to pay him $24.48 in interest, $225 in tribunal fees and $10.50 in dispute-related expenses.
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