B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has dismissed a Vancouver strata tenants’ complaint about “repeated thumping and banging noises” coming from the unit above.
The tenants had also complained about the next-door neighbour slamming doors several times a week.
The Keefer Street strata, however, said it had investigated the noise and found the complaints unwarranted.
What the tenants wanted from the tribunal was an order that the strata enforce bylaws and pay them $2,021 in damages.
The tenants, Lance Read and Sharon Cooper, filed only one complaint in January 2020, tribunal member Trisha Apland said in her May 20 decision.
What they complained of was, “almost daily, intermittent/hourly thump thump thump pounding on their floor — our ceiling — as if a hard ball or cane is being dropped.”
So, the strata did issue a letter to the upstairs owner but a response said the noise was not from their suite.
Read then contacted his landlord and said he was recording the noise; he asked the landlord to deal with the strata about the complaint.
There was no further correspondence.
“I find the noise likely stopped or was within an acceptable volume. In the circumstances, I find it was reasonable that the strata took no further action,” Apland said.
A year after the first complaint, the tenants again complained of noise to the strata manager. Their landlord followed up on that, saying noise complaints had gone on for a year.
Another letter was sent to the upstairs owner.
This time, that owner said a roommate had moved in with a dog that had loud toys. The owner said they had got rid of the toys, adding that the suite was frequently empty and again suggested the noises might be coming from elsewhere.
No fines were imposed.
Sound recordings were submitted to the tribunal but the strata said it had not received them.
“I am not persuaded after listening to the audio recordings several times that the recorded noises actually came from [the upstairs unit],” Apland said.
Apland found the strata had treated the tenants fairly, declined to make any order and found the tenants were not entitled to damages.
