B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has dismissed a claim by a B.C. strata owner who said his strata discriminated against him for not allowing him to continue to rent a parking stall.
Edward Akinbobola claimed the strata improperly ended the parking space rental. He asked the tribunal for an order requiring the strata to rent the parking space to him and to apologize.
The strata denied the allegation, saying Akinbobola never rented the parking space.
The strata said Akinbobola’s unit’s previous owner’s parking space rental had ended and the parking space was rented to another strata lot owner before Akinbobola requested it.
Akinbobola took possession of his unit Jan. 14. Tribunal member Richard McAndrew said Akinbobola has had access to one assigned parking space since the purchase.
McAndrew said Akinbobola argued he was also entitled to rent a second parking space.
The strata said that it assigns one parking space to each strata lot and it has five parking spaces that it rents to owners.
A strata bylaw says an owner can rent an available parking space on a first-come, first-serve basis at the rate of $120 per year. The bylaw further states the parking space rental ends at the earlier of the parking space rental agreement’s end date or the date the strata lot is sold.
It was undisputed that the previous owner rented a parking space from the strata.
“Akinbobola says that they expected that this parking rental would continue after they bought the strata lot,” McAndrew said. “However, Mr. Akinbobola did not provide any evidence or submissions showing that they told the strata that they wanted to continue the parking rental before their strata lot purchase was completed.”
As soon as the space vacated by the previous owner was available, the strata advised owners of its availability. It was almost immediately rented and Akinbobola was put on the waiting list for the next available space.
Akinbobola claimed the strata racially discriminated against him in the situation.
“I find that Mr. Akinbobola has not proved that the strata racially discriminated against him,” McAndrew said.
As such, McAndrew dismissed the claims.
