Moving to a new home is an expensive proposition and one Victoria resident fought in court over one of those expenses.
The B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal ruled mostly in favour of Robert Keith Craig, who took his strata to the judicial body after being charged a $150 move-in fee that he said was “unreasonable.”
The strata filed a counterclaim, saying the fee was permitted under its bylaws.
“Mr. Craig said that because SL80 is on the first floor, they did not use the elevators, so there was no cost or effort for a caretaker to hold the elevator or put up protective pads,” reads the CRT decision. “Mr. Craig says no services were provided during their move-in, so the fee is invalid.”
But the strata responded by saying the fee was necessary.
“The strata says the fee is based on bylaw 43(4), which must be applied equally to all owners,” reads the CRT decision. “The strata also says the fee covers the cost of having the caretaker update the entry phone system and gate, update key records, update owner records, and clean up hallways and entrances after the move.”
Strata corporations are allowed to charge user fees provided that those fees are reasonable and that the fee is set out in a bylaw.
“The court said the reasonableness of a user fee bylaw must be determined on an objective standard,” reads the CRT decision. “The correct approach in determining whether fees are reasonable is to weigh the objective evidence of a) prevailing market conditions at the time, or b) the costs the strata corporation incurs in facilitating moves, or both.”
The strata and Craig disagreed about if costs were incurred as a result of the move.
“The strata provided no evidence that that caretaker did additional cleaning due to Mr. Craig’s move,” reads the CRT decision. “So, I find cleaning costs do not justify the move-in fee. However, Mr. Craig did not dispute that the caretaker updated the entry phone and gate, and did administrative work in updating owner and key records. However, The strata provided no specific evidence of these costs, no evidence or estimates about how long these tasks took, and no evidence about the caretaker’s hourly wage … Since the strata’s counterclaim is for payment of the move-in fee, I find, based on (the court case known as) Watson, that the strata must prove the fee is reasonable. It was open to the strata to provide time sheets or a written statement from the caretaker explaining how long the reprogramming and administrative work took, but the strata did not do so.”
The CRT found that the $150 fee was not reasonable, but did accept that the caretaker did some work related to the move and told Craig he had to pay $50 to the strata.
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