B.C.'s Civil Resolution Tribunal has dismissed a strata’s claim against a disabled elderly grandmother after it claimed her grandson did not meet the complex's 55-year-old age requirement when he provided the woman overnight medical care.
Tribunal vice-chair Garth Cambrey said in his Aug. 22 decision that the strata had failed to accommodate a now-90-year-old woman’s disability.
The strata filed the claim against siblings Dorothy Bendsen and John Metson — who co-owned a strata unit with their mother, identified as RM — after Bendsen’s son stayed with his grandmother to care for her following a stroke in 2019.
In 2020, the grandson stayed with RM most nights, and by 2021, he was still staying in the unit while healthcare aides visited two to three time per week, Cambrey said.
The strata bylaws said if a new person other than a spouse, partner or immediate family member moved in, the strata must be notified. Another bylaw said occupancy of the strata lot was restricted to one additional person 55 years of age or over.
Bendsen said the strata was told of the grandson helping out for a few weeks when RM returned from hospital.
“There is no evidence the strata objected to this arrangement,” Cambrey said.
In March 2022, the strata wrote to Bendsen asking that her son vacate the unit by April 30, 2022, to comply with the age restriction bylaw. The letter did not advise fines would be imposed if the grandson failed to vacate the strata lot.
The family also presented two doctor’s notes saying RM would require overnight assistance.
In July 2022, the strata began imposing fines, and by September — when RM had returned to hospital — they had risen to $2,400. The strata filed the claim, asking the tribunal order the family to pay it $2,400 for imposed bylaw fines. They asked for the fines to be removed but filed no counterclaim.
Bendsen and Metson said their mother’s disability required overnight medical care and that she was entitled to reasonable accommodation under B.C.’s Human Rights Code.
In his decision, Cambrey said the strata began imposing fines before allowing the family to respond.
“I find the bylaws imposed against the respondents are invalid,” Cambrey said. “I dismiss the strata’s claims and this dispute.”
