Dear Tony: We have an unusual problem in our strata corporation.
We have 308 units in several buildings. Several owners have approached council with a complaint that their strata fees are not correct and want to know how to change them.
We have reviewed our schedule and the registered strata plan. The comparisons show the fees and calculations are comparable, but the units do not appear to coincide with the sizes of the strata lots.
If we wish to have our building resurveyed and the measured areas and allocations changed, is that possible under the Strata Property Act?
Daniella K., Tri Cities
There is an unusual omission on registered strata plans that I have found results in strata- lot numbers and corresponding unit numbers frequently not being correct.
When a strata plan is filed in the land title registry, the schedule of unit entitlement — the formula used to calculate common expenses and special levies — only includes the strata-lot number and the reference sheet number the strata lot is shown on.
If it’s an older plan, it might also show the schedule of interest upon destruction, or the schedule of voting rights if these apply, or if they are filed separately.
For example, the schedule might show strata lot 1 and the sheet the unit is shown on that sets the boundaries of the lot. That sheet often shows only the strata-lot number. Frequently, none of these documents lists the unit number on the schedule, such as “suite 101.”
To ensure the proper fees are charged to the correct units, someone in the early days of the strata corporation had to create a master list showing the strata-lot number, the unit number and the schedule of unit entitlement.
There might have been a sample of the proposed plan in the disclosure statement by the owner developer, but these are projections only and not the actual registered plan.
To confirm that the right strata-lot number, unit number and unit entitlement are being applied, someone should walk the building with the registered strata plan and floor plans, and verify that each of the corresponding units has been identified correctly.
Before you assume there was an error with the strata plan, I suggest your council, manager or a consultant walk your floor plans with the documents and verify that the corresponding units are correct.
We recently conducted a review with a large strata corporation where 21 of the units were mixed up on the schedule.
While the differences were small, they were incorrect, and over 20 years of operations and special levies, the amounts are significant. The strata council has since corrected the schedule and issued a notice to all owners.
Only rely on documents filed in the land title registry when referring to the registered strata plan, registered bylaws and other amendments filed by your corporation.
If there are errors on a strata plan, it is possible under the Strata Property Act to amend the strata plan and correct the unit entitlement.
It requires a unanimous vote at a general meeting and a new survey that is approved by the superintendent of real estate and the registrar of land titles.
The approvals are easy, but all 308 strata lots would have to vote in favour of the change — a daunting task, as only 43 owners showed up in person and by proxy at your last annual meeting.
Tony Gioventu is executive director of the Condominium Home Owners Association.
