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Courts to weigh in on $30k sale of parking stall at West Kelowna resort

The battle over 'B40'

Is the sale of a condo unit’s parking stall legally binding on the condo's new owner after a sale?

The BC Supreme Court is going to have to answer that question after the province’s Civil Resolution Tribunal declined to get involved in a West Kelowna case.

Documents published by the courts last week outline the dispute centred on “stall B40” at the Barona Beach Resort on Pritchard Drive.

Feisal and Robin Somji purchased a unit at the resort in September 2020. The strata’s bylaws assigned two parking spaces to the unit, but 10 years earlier, the previous owner had sold one of the parking spaces for $30,000 to another owner, Tim Alderson, under a 99-year lease.

An initial parking agreement was signed in 2010, with an additional agreement signed in 2017 under almost identical terms.

The parking space sale was not registered against the unit’s land title, but the Somjis were informed of and acknowledged the 2010 agreement, but not the 2017 agreement.

The purchase agreement of the condo also included acknowledgements that only one parking stall was included and that the seller had leased out the other stall, “B40.”

The Somjis took possession of the unit and began using stall B40 and demanded that Alderson stop parking there. Anderson refused and the strata corporation declined to get involved.

In June 2021 Feisal Somji filed a claim with the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal seeking an order that Alderson stop using the stall.

"Mr. Somji’s position before the CRT was that neither he nor Ms. Somji assumed any of the responsibilities or obligations under the 2010 agreement and that they were unaware of the 2017 agreement when they purchased Strata Lot 5," says a recent court ruling.

The Civil Resolution Tribunal is dedicated to small claims and strata disputes, but ruled earlier this year the case of parking stall B40 was out of its jurisdiction, because the $30,000 Alderson paid for the stall is well over the tribunal’s $5,000 monetary limit.

The tribunal also noted it does not rule on contractual disputes of this type.

When informed of the ruling, the Somjis filed a notice of civil claim in the BC Supreme Court.

Alderson tried to argue that the Somjis did not file the lawsuit within the required timeframe. But in a ruling last week, the court ruled that it would hear the lawsuit because any delays associated with the filing of the lawsuit were attributed to the Somjis’ lawyer and not them.

“Without adjudication, uncertainty around who may use stall B40 will persist, affecting not only the parties to this dispute, but also future owners of their properties,” ruled Justice G.P. Weatherill.



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