A years-long battle over who should pay to fix an aging elevator at a North Burnaby strata has already been decided, and B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has refused to decide it again.
The elevator in question, at Ingleton Place in the 3900-block of Hastings Street, is 38 years old and needs major upgrades, according to information presented to the tribunal.
The strata consists of 128 lots in three buildings and includes an apartment section, a townhouse section and a commercial section.
Trinden Enterprises Ltd., which owns the strata's two commercial lots, told the CRT in 2020 the strata was dragging its feet on the elevator upgrades. It also argued the costs should be shared.
The tribunal ruled in Trinden's favour in July 2020, saying that, according to the Strata Property Act, the only way the strata could divvy up the cost was for all 128 strata lots to share it on the basis of unit entitlement.
To share the elevator costs any other way, the ruling said the strata would have to pass a bylaw amendment or unanimous vote resolution.
In a new complaint, however, the strata's apartment section said there had been an agreement that it wouldn't have to pay for the upgrade of the elevator, which is not in their building.
The apartment owners said they had spent $380,000 to upgrade an elevator in their own building with the understanding the commercial and townhouse owners would bear the cost of fixing the other elevators.
The strata agreed with the apartment section, saying Trinden and the townhouse owners should pay to upgrade the elevator in their building.
Trinden disagreed, saying the issue had already been decided in 2020.
Tribunal member David Jiang agreed with Trinden.
First, he noted there was no formal contract documenting the agreement between the apartment owners and the rest of the strata saying the apartment owners would only have to pay for their own elevator.
Jiang further ruled the elevator issue had already been decided in 2020 and there was no "new context" that would change that result.
Jiang described the apartment section's application as an "abuse of process" and refused to resolve it.
Trinden had claimed nearly $13,000 in legal fees, but Jiang said the tribunal only orders reimbursement of legal fees in "extraordinary circumstances," such as when applicants engage in "reprehensible conduct."
"While I have refused to resolve this dispute because it is an abuse of process, I find it still falls short of the standard of reprehensible conduct or being obviously unfounded, reckless, or made out of malice," Jiang wrote.
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