A man who had colourful curtains hanging in his window for six years must pay a fine levied by his strata, the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT) has ruled.
The man, who owns a unit on the first floor of a three-storey building, first put up the curtains in 2018. Six years later, in 2024, the strata demanded they be removed, because they didn’t meet the requirements of the strata’s bylaw about window coverings.
He contends that because the curtains had been up for so long, “the strata should not have bothered him.”
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Tribunal vice-chair Eric Regehr says the strata’s bylaws didn’t change until a year after the curtains had been put up and says they are “confusingly drafted,” however, he says it is clear that owners can’t put up anything “unsightly,” and the only acceptable colours for visible window coverings are white, cream, grey, or beige.
The colour of the homeowner’s curtains is unclear. The strata said the first complaint it received described the drapes as blue, according to the CRT’s reasons for decision. However, it says, photographic evidence shows curtains in pink or red, with no blue curtains visible.
Regehr dismissed the man’s claims. The homeowner has been ordered to pay $200 for the bylaw violation.