Is owners’ approval needed to change parking-garage finish?

Last October, our strata corporation held a special general meeting and approved a special levy of more than $1.2 million to replace the membrane over our parking garage.

At that time, the owners approved specific design plans that stated all finishing materials had to match the existing structure.

During discussion at the meeting, the owners made it clear that they would not approve the project if this stipulation was not met. In June, our strata council president and another member of council signed a change order that approved a significant change to the existing slump-block finish, instead agreeing to a smooth poured-concrete finish.

These finishes look very different. The smooth walls have significantly altered the original, iconic appearance of our building. Council reluctantly notified the owners of this critical change in the strata council meeting minutes of July.

Is a council allowed to do this? What recourse do we owners have? Who pays to remedy the situation? Patricia Coulter, Victoria

While the Strata Property Act sets out the condition “significant change in use or appearance of common property or common assets,” it does not establish a definition.

The principle reason is that each strata corporation is unique, and the circumstances that might result in a significant change in use or appearance that could affect one property can vary greatly from another property, depending on the reasons for the change, the location and the result.

If your strata community agreed to the renovation based on an assurance that finishes would not be changed, and the strata council subsequently acted contrary to those limitations, any owner could dispute the decision and file a court application, commence an arbitration or start a claim with the Civil Resolution Tribunal.

The decisions of the courts or the tribunal are specific to each strata corporation, but most decisions have been a result of a loss or change in conditions that affects the use and enjoyment of common property, a common asset or limited common property, loss of value of property or altered access.

Here are some helpful examples of obvious significant changes that have occurred over the years: a change in landscaping or removal of trees without the approval of the owners that resulted in a loss of privacy; a balcony enclosure that resulted in the blocking of ocean views for three adjacent strata lots; the change of colour of a paint scheme from green to burgundy; the construction of a pergola in front of two strata lots, blocking their yard access; moving a rooftop ventilation system from the area over a hallway to an area over a strata lot, resulting in a dramatic noise increase; owners changing their windows to an entirely different design and colour; or the strata council removing designated specialneeds parking.

Many of these types of changes can be reversed, but major construction is extremely difficult to undo without significant cost.

Legal assistance is essential when writing resolutions for special levies and major repairs. If the conditions or authority to approve changes in use or appearance had been defined in the resolutions, the council might have been able to make decisions under certain conditions, such as product availability, design problems or building-code issues.

For an effective claim, it will be necessary to identify how the change affected use, enjoyment, access or current or future value of your property.