B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has found a Vancouver strata council treated a member unfairly in removing him but said it can’t reinstate him as his term ended.
Eduard Andrei Cvaci co-owns a strata lot in a 535-unit Yaletown building. He was elected as a strata council member and claimed other strata council members improperly voted to remove him from council 10 months before his term expired.
Cvaci requested an order from tribunal member Kristin Gardner that he be immediately reinstated as a strata council member.
The strata said that the strata council was permitted to remove Cvaci as a council member under a bylaw, as the strata claimed he breached the council members’ code of conduct. It argued the dispute should be dismissed.
Gardner said in her Sept. 29 decision there was email evidence between council members showing “a fair amount of personal conflict on the strata council following the 2021 AGM, particularly between Mr. Cvaci and the treasurer at the time, RS.”
In a Sept. 8, 2022 letter to Cvaci, strata council members requested he immediately submit his resignation because they believed his recent behaviour breached the bylaws, state tribunal documents.
Specifically, the letter alleged Cvaci had:
• distributed personal information and private council decisions before official minutes had been approved and provided to owners;
• posted council business on social media;
• made false and misleading claims to residents and failed to acknowledge or respect the elected commercial representative on council;
• written an intimidating letter to one of the new council members that contained misinformation, misrepresentations, and potentially slanderous comments about RS, to try and overturn the election results; and,
• attempted to unduly influence the new concierge staff by aggressively representing himself as the ex-president and demanding they approve a poster for display without informing the council or the council president.
“It is undisputed that Mr. Cvaci declined to resign,” Gardner said.
The council held a meeting on Sept. 13, 2022 by video conference. The minutes state that before Cvaci joined the meeting, the other six council members unanimously voted to remove him from the strata council.
“When Mr. Cvaci later joined the meeting, he was advised of the vote and that he was no longer a strata council member,” Gardner said. “The strata council then ended the video call with Mr. Cvaci and proceeded with the remainder of the meeting in his absence.”
Cvaci said the strata should have put his removal from the strata council to an ownership vote.
Still, Gardner found nothing inherently improper about the strata council using the procedure set out in bylaws to remove Cvaci.
But, she said, the Strata Property Act has no provisions specifically addressing the process for removing strata council members.
“However, I find that does not mean that a strata corporation can remove a strata council member from council without providing them with reasonable due process,” Gardner said.
She said Cvaci had a reasonable expectation “to be given notice of an alleged breach of the code of conduct and an opportunity to speak to the allegations.”
Gardner also found no evidence Cvaci was notified of a meeting to remove him, and that he was still a member and entitled to be present.
“I find the strata failed to provide Mr. Cvaci with sufficient notice of his alleged code of conduct violations and that it intended to vote on his removal from council,” she said. “I find the strata also failed to allow Mr. Cvaci a reasonable opportunity to respond to the allegations against him. I find these actions violated Mr. Cvaci’s reasonable expectations and were significantly unfair to him.”
Despite finding the council treated Cvaci significantly unfairly, Gardner said she could not reinstate him to finish his term as it had already expired at the 2023 AGM.
The tribunal noted Cvaci had put his name forward for council at this year's AGM.
Gardner said it would be inappropriate for the tribunal to interfere with the strata’s democratic governance.
“I find there is no available order to remedy the strata’s significantly unfair actions towards Mr. Cvaci,” she said. “I find that I must dismiss Mr. Cvaci’s claim on that basis."
