20/05/2025– Jurisdiction British Columbia
Part 90 published on 01/06/2025
Privacy fences did not constitute significant alterations to Common Property
The Applicants claimed that the strata corporation wrongly approved privacy fences on common property without the necessary vote of owners.
The CRT dismissed the application, finding that the fences did not significantly alter the common property because the fences were installed for reasons of safety. The Tribunal said:
Based on the strata council member’s written statement, the above emails from the SL51 owner, and that the applicants did not argue that safety was not an issue, I find on a balance of probabilities, the strata’s approval of the SL51 fence was made because the strata had reasonable grounds to believe that the SL51 fence installation was necessary to ensure safety. This makes the fence approval exempt from the ¾ vote requirement under SPA section 71(a).
I reach the same conclusion about the SL52 fence installation. Although there is limited evidence about the SL52 owner’s request, I accept the strata council member’s statement that approval for the SL52 fence was given for same reason as the SL51 fence installation because the 2 strata lots are next to each other. I find the strata’s conclusion was reasonable and note again that the applicants did not say safety concerns were not an issue in the strata.
Parry v. The Owners, Strata Plan LMS 1417, 2025 BCCRT 647 (CanLII), privacy