A Burnaby strata has been ordered to pay two owners a total of nearly $13,000 after they were forced to replace HVAC units in their apartments at their own expense.
In July 2022, fan coil units malfunctioned in the condos of Ka Wai Au and Bianca Man Yan Chui in Metrotown's Gold House apartment highrise, according to a Civil Resolution Tribunal ruling this week.
(An FCU is a device that uses a coil and a fan to heat or cool a room without ductwork.)
The malfunction at Gold House knocked out the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system for the whole 12th floor, the ruling said.
The strata contacted Au and Chui a couple weeks later and directed them to order replacement FCUs at their own expense.
After a strata hearing – and under protest after the strata said it would fine them if they failed to pay for the replacement – Au and Chui went ahead with the work.
Au paid $4,194.75 for repairs to the FCU and $630 to fix drywall cut open in the process.
Chui paid $5,244.75 to replace the FCU in her unit and $1,575.00 for drywall repairs.
The strata told the tribunal it was not responsible for the repairs because the FCUs are located in a non-structural dropped ceiling in the strata lots and are, therefore, not common property.
To support its claim, the strata pointed to the November 2015 disclosure statement from the building’s developer, Rize Alliance, which outlined that strata lot owners would be responsible for FCU repair, maintenance and electricity.
But Au and Chui argued the HVAC units are common property because they are connected to a system through refrigerant and communication lines and are part of an "integrated whole."
They noted the units can't operate independently and pointed out problems with their FCUs shut down the whole 12th-floor system.
Tribunal member Maria Montgomery agreed.
She ruled the FCUs fell under the Strata Property Act definition of common property because each FCU is used by the other strata lot FCUs to "create a functioning HVAC system."
"Whatever the developer's intentions were before (the) strata building's completion, the FCUs were not installed in such a way that the FCUs are independent," Montgomery said.
She said a developer's intentions cannot override the Strata Property Act definition of common property.
Montgomery gave the strata 30 days to pay Au $5,246.78 for the FCU and drywall repairs; pre-judgment interest; and tribunal fees.
She ordered the strata to pay Chui $7,370.11 for FCU replacement and drywall repairs; pre-judgment interest; and tribunal fees.
The CRT is an online, quasi-judicial tribunal that hears strata property disputes and small claims cases.
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Email cnaylor@burnabynow.com
