Fines related to neighbour's 443 noise complaints at centre of B.C. dispute
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A B.C. condo owner who was fined tens of thousands of dollars over hundreds of noise complaints made by his downstairs neighbour was partially successful in having the penalties overturned.
A B.C. condo owner who was fined tens of thousands of dollars over hundreds of noise complaints made by his downstairs neighbour was partially successful in having the penalties overturned.
A decision in the long-running dispute was handed down by the civil resolution tribunal Wednesday, finding the process for imposing some of the fines for violating the bylaw against unreasonable noise was "significantly unfair."
The downstairs neighbour, referred to as R.K. in the decision, complained 443 times between April 4, 2022 and Nov. 30, 2023, tribunal member Sarah Orr wrote in her decision.
"R.K. says he mostly hears hard percussive strikes coming through his primary bedroom ceiling, but he also hears tapping, scraping, dragging, and clunking noises from the same location," the decision said, also noting R.K. first noticed the noise in 2020.
The upstairs neighbour, Alan Zenuk, initiated the dispute with the strata saying he has been fined $56,000. He sought to have all of those fines reversed, also asking to be compensated $5,000 "for loss of enjoyment of his strata lot, loss of sleep, and stress." His dispute was with the strata, and not his neighbour. "In B.C. the common assets of a condo building are owned by a strata corporation and managed by a strata council."
Zenuk has not paid any fines, according to the tribunal, and the strata said it was "unclear" how the condo owner arrived at the $56,000 figure. The total amount of fines imposed is never specified in the decision because as Orr notes, neither the strata nor Zenuk submitted a statement of account.
The evidence submitted did show that Zenuk was fined "at least" $42,600 between March and December of 2023 and notes a $200 fine can be imposed for each bylaw contravention.
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