Summer 2011

Will Christy Clark Make Any Difference to Strata Owners?




















On February 26 BC Liberals chose Christy Clark as their new leader and Premier of British Columbia.    You may be wondering what difference it will make to strata owners.    Will it result in legislation that better protects their rights?There are a few clues about what a Clark government might do for strata owners.

      The first clue lies in her response to the following question of the VISOA:"If elected leader, what would you do to review deficiencies in BC’s strata legislation (Strata Property Act, Real Estate Services Act and Real Estate Development Marketing Act) and ensure that there is public consultation prior to development of new legislation?"

Her response was that “During the next few weeks our campaign will be releasing our policy positions”. Unfortunately, no policy position on any strata matter was released during her campaign or since. However, in response to a question from a strata owner the Clark campaign said “Since your last correspondence the provincial government has undertaken to a review of the Strata Act. Christy is still committed to having a look at this issue if she is elected leader on February 26th as she has heard from many people with concerns.”

This response makes the astonishing claim that the provincial government was reviewing the Strata Property Act when all it was doing was a survey about new regulations affecting financial statements and depreciation reports. During the campaign period News1130 AM Radio asked 5 questions of the final 4 candidates for the BC Liberal leadership including the following: “One of the biggest issues raised on the News1130 website is the current BC Strata Act. What problems do you believe are inherent in the system and how would you fix them?” Christy Clark was the only candidate who failed to respond to any of the questions posed by 1130AM.


So far Christy Clark has sent mixed messages. One message is that strata matters were not important enough for her to issue a policy statement or even respond to the 1130AM question.

Another is that she is not up to speed enough to distinguish between a review of the legislation and a survey about a couple of regulations. Although her campaign made the statement that she is “committed to having a look at this issue” there is no indication of what she means by “look” or that she even understands what the “issue” is.

The theme of her leadership campaign was “Families First”. However, she appears to be unaware that ¼ of families in the province and ½ of families in the lower mainland live in strata properties, with many of these strata's being dysfunctional. Does she care enough to have her government enter into a dialogue with strata owners to determine how “owner friendly” legislation could help improve family life?

Deryk Norton Editor

Editor’s Note:We challenge you to use this website as a resource in contacting the Premier and other politicians with your strata legislation concerns and to contribute your ideas, suggestions and comments to our editors. You are encouraged to refer this website to other strata owners. Thank You, Deryk Norton

Contents

History

The British Columbia Strata Property Act (SPA) came into force on July 1, 2000. Since then there has been massive growth in the number and diversity of strata properties. Many problems have arisen in applying the Act to strata issues and in protecting the rights of strata owners. Although the present BC government made a commitment in 2003 to review the SPA it has refused to undertake either a comprehensive review of strata legislation or consult publicly about the legislation that affects over 700,000 strata owners. Instead it passed Bill 8 in 2009 to amend the SPA based on "private and confidential" discussions with real estate industry insiders while ignoring many pressing concerns of strata owners. This website is provided as a resource for strata owners seeking a public review of BC legislation affecting the rights of strata owners.