Summaries Sunday: OnPoint Legal Research

• Author: Administrator
• Date: September 02, 2018

One Sunday each month OnPoint Legal Research provides Slaw with an extended summary of, and counsel’s commentary on, an important case from the British Columbia, Alberta, or Ontario court of appeal.

The Owners, Strata Plan VR2122 v. Bradbury, 2018 BCCA 280

AREAS OF LAW: Strata corporations; Winding up; Strata Property Act; Liquidators

~In the winding up of a strata corporation, a judge cannot appoint a liquidator, vest property in him, and make orders ancillary to his role when the liquidator has not applied for that relief under the Strata Property Act.~

BACKGROUND:

The Respondents, The Owners, Strata Plan VR2122, et al, decided through their strata council and a vote of the strata owners to sell their four-storey residential building in Vancouver’s West End to a developer. The building, called the Hampstead, is facing increasing capital expenditures to maintain its physical infrastructure, with anticipated costs for 2018 alone coming to around $20,000 for each of the 33 units. Four of the strata owners, the Appellants Gloria Bradbury et al, opposed the sale. More than 80% of the owners voted in favour of winding up the strata corporation and appointing a liquidator to complete the sale of the property. They applied in court to have the resolution and the purchase and sale agreement approved. Following a three-day petition hearing, a chambers judge approved the Respondents’ winding up resolution. The judge appointed a liquidator and approved a purchase and sale agreement between the Respondents and a purchaser, in the amount of $45.25 million. The judge also made a number of ancillary orders. The judge considered the adamant opposition of the Appellants but concluded the winding-up was in the best interests of a majority of the owners.

APPELLATE DECISION:

The appeal was allowed in part. The Appellants argued that the chambers judge erred in granting the order in the form she did, because it did not comply with the mandatory process for a voluntary winding-up under the Strata Property Act and because it contained terms not authorized by the Act. The relevant sections of the Act to consider in the case of a voluntary winding-up of a strata corporation with a liquidator are at Division 2, ss. 276-283. Prior to July 2016, a voluntary winding-up under Division 2 required the owners to pass a unanimous resolution to wind up the strata and appoint a liquidator. Under the “unanimity regime”, the liquidator was to obtain court approval of their appointment...