B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has ordered a Vancouver strata to pay an owner $10,760 for damages sustained from flooding of their unit.
Zimmerman Contracting Ltd. owns a unit in the Yaletown strata. Company president Ian Zimmerman told the tribunal there were floods from another unit on July 5 and Oct. 30, 2022. Both floods came from blockages in the strata’s common property pipe system.
Zimmerman said the strata was responsible for the floods because they failed to adequately maintain the pipe system. He claimed $20,374.80 in repair costs.
The strata, meanwhile, denied responsibility for the repair costs because they were all within one unit. The strata said it responded reasonably each time there was a blockage and asked the tribunal to dismiss Zimmerman’s claims.
Tribunal documents said the floods came from blockages in common property pipes in a vertical stack that takes wastewater from strata lots’ kitchen drains to the municipal main.
Zimmerman told tribunal vice-chair Eric Regehr there had been repeated pipe backup issues as far back as 2020. He said a plumber said the issue was a restriction below the 11th floor unit, an issue of which the strata was purportedly aware.
“Ultimately, I decided it was unnecessary to determine whether the strata’s former plumber told it about the offset,” Regehr said. “I say this because I have concluded that the strata’s actions were unreasonable regardless of what its former plumber did or did not tell it.”
However, Regehr said a mechanical company had recommended flushing all the tower’s kitchen stacks.
“The strata did not follow this advice, and I find the strata likely failed to even notice it,” Regehr wrote in his decision.
On July 1, 2022, there was another backup. The blockage, once cleared by a plumber, contained “loads of grease and food stuffs.”
“The strata’s failure to flush the lines before July 2022 was unreasonable,” Regehr ruled, noting the strata’s failure to do so caused the July 2022 flood.
“I order the strata to pay Zimmerman $10,760.72,” the tribunal member said.
The strata’s actions after the July 2022 backup were reasonable and dismissed that claim.
When it came to the October 2022 flood, a backup had occurred a month earlier. The strata had asked the plumbing contractor why it would happen almost immediately after flushing the lines.
The contractor said it was likely due to a grease buildup starting again. They suggested residents had caused the leak by putting grease down the drain.
Regehr said the strata was entitled to rely on the plumber’s opinions. The plumber provided a report on Jan. 16, 2023 saying there was an offset under the unit, which was already built up with “a fair amount of grease.”
