A Burnaby owner who claimed his strata wasn't doing enough to deal with safety risks and bad smells created by his neighbours' alleged hoarding has lost his case at the province's Civil Resolution Tribunal.
Etienne Strydom, who lives in a two-storey apartment building near Byrne Creek Ravine Park, told the tribunal his next-door neighbours' unit was "unsanitary and unsafe," and "putrid" odours emanated from it, according to a CRT ruling Monday.
Multiple inspections
The complaints began in January 2023, saying the neighbours made the smell worse by propping their front door open and allowing it to waft into the common hallway.
Strydom also complained that the neighbours' patio was cluttered with unpermitted items and there was a leak underneath their strata lot that dripped into the parkade.
He said the strata had failed to properly address his complaints and enforce its bylaws.
But the strata said it has taken reasonable steps to inspect the neighbouring unit and determined the residents are not breaching any bylaws and that the only smells coming from the unit are "transient cooking odours."
Over the last two years, both the Burnaby Fire Department and a professional hoarding cleanup company inspected the neighbouring apartment at the request of the strata, as did multiple strata council members, according to the ruling.
The fire department took no action, which the strata said was evidence the hoarding situation was not serious enough to warrant "drastic measures," and the hoarding professional concluded there were no safety concerns and the existing clutter was not problematic (although the neighbours had refused him access to one of the apartment's two bedrooms).
"The report noted odours related to cooking but these were not 'overly foul' and were overall 'acceptable,'" stated the ruling.
'Discrepancy'
Tribunal vice-chair Eric Regehr ultimately ruled in favour of the strata, saying Strydom had not proven the strata had failed to enforce its bylaws related to clutter and odours, or that his neighbours had breached the strata's bylaws about items on the patio.
But Regehr also noted there had been a "discrepancy" between what the strata told Strydom after his complaints and what it told his neighbours.
"The strata consistently denied the presence of any unpleasant odours to Mr. Strydom, while consistently telling the neighbours that the odours coming from their unit were a problem," Regehr said.
After the fire department attended, for example, the strata manager had told the neighbours the situation in their home was resulting in "smells that permeate into the hallways and outside" and that the fire inspectors had been "shocked" at how messy their home was.
Another email showed the strata manager had threatened to fine the neighbours if they didn't stop bringing recyclables and other abandoned items into their unit.
The strata had also told the neighbours to clean and declutter their unit, as it had been identified as a "source of odours" and was a fire risk.
"The strata does not explain the discrepancy," Regehr said.
Potential safety hazard
The strata had taken a "delicate approach" to the neighbours, according to Regehr, including multiple warnings and supportive offers of assistance, after consulting a social worker about hoarding.
Regehr concluded that approach was "reasonable" as the strata had also exercised its authority under the bylaws to insist on multiple inspections.
But Regehr said he agreed with Strydom that the strata had taken too long to demand compliance with bylaws related to fire safety.
"In particular, the strata offered the neighbours help in decluttering their unit in August 2023, but took no further action for several months," Regehr wrote. "I find that the potential safety hazard should have prompted the strata to be more insistent. However, ultimately nothing came of this delay."
Strydom's complaints were dismissed.
The CRT is an online, quasi-judicial tribunal that hears strata property disputes and small claims cases.
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