If you’re a condo owner – especially those on strata councils – frustrated by current laws over how strata buildings are run, now’s your chance to be heard.

The B.C. Law Institute’s Strata Property Law Project Committee is asking the public for its views on how to reform the province’s Strata Property Act, the Strata Property Regulation and the Schedule of Standard Bylaws that most condo and townhome developments use.

article continues below

The committee’s consultation paper has 83 “tentative recommendations” for reforms, which cover a wide range of topics, such as strata bylaws and how council and resident meetings are run, including proxies, quorum, voting and minutes. It also looks at subjects such as how fines are enforced against owners who do not comply with rules or pay required fees.

Committee chair Patrick Williams said, “The hallmark of good governance is effective decision-making and it’s open to question whether the act does enough to help stratas meet that standard. The committee is interested in hearing what the public has to say about its proposals to have the legislation give stratas more support to make, implement, and enforce their collective decisions.”

You’ll have to be really into strata law, however, to get your views heard clearly. Both a long and short public survey ask a series of questions asking whether respondents agree with the suggested reforms, which require respondents to examine the previous legislation in order to understand the question.

The full consultation paper, a summary consultation and a link to the public surveys can be found at www.bcli.org. The consultation is open until 15 June 2018.