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A B.C. tribunal has called a strata "insensitive, stubborn, and high-handed" and ordered it to pay a condo owner $19,000 after it refused to grant her a hardship exemption and allow her to rent out her unit.

According to an April 25 BC Civil Resolution Tribunal decision, condo owner Rachel Klinger provided Strata Plan VR214 with multiple medical reports stating she was going through a "high risk" pregnancy with twins and she would be hospitalized for a lengthy period of time and unable to work.

The decision says the strata had previously given Klinger a one-year hardship exemption from its no rentals bylaw when COVID hit and her income was reduced by 90 per cent. She then moved in with her partner and rented her condo for $2,500 a month.

When the one-year exemption came to an end Klinger applied to extend it as she was now pregnant and facing a complicated pregnancy. She provided the strata with notes from her obstetrician and doctors regarding her health and information on her income.

However, the strata denied the hardship application and said it would reconsider if she provided more evidence.

She provided more medical information including a note that said she had been hospitalized for an "indefinite stay" along with three years worth of income tax returns.

However, the strata didn't address her pregnancy and instead denied her request saying her tax returns weren't in order because she didn't declare income from an old roommate.

Klinger appealed the decision and said her taxes were done by an accountant and confirmed by the Canada Revenue Agency and everything was in order.

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Still, the strata denied her a break.

Klinger then took the strata to the tribunal which tore strips off the strata.

"The strata did not assess Ms. Klinger’s situation but instead disqualified her based on perceived dishonesty or inaccuracy in her tax filings, the tribunal ruled. "The strata’s obligation in a hardship application is to assess an owner’s circumstances, not to assess the accuracy of the owner’s tax filings."

The strata also argued she could have sold the condo.

However, again the tribunal dismissed the argument.

"Ms. Klinger was hospitalized and facing a medical situation that the strata should have known would monopolize her attention. Her doctors had warned her to expect a difficult birth of high-needs twins, followed by a potentially lengthy stay in hospital for both her and her twins," the tribunal ruled. "It is difficult to understand how the strata could have reasonably expected Ms. Klinger to navigate selling (her condo) at the same time."

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The tribunal ruled the strata's denial of a hardship exception was unreasonable.

"It should have been obvious that denying the (hardship) application would cause both financial harm and intangible injuries," the tribunal said.

The tribunal went go to call the strata's conduct "insensitive, stubborn, and high-handed."

In a rare move, the tribunal ordered the strata to pay $2,500 in aggravated damages.

The strata was also ordered to pay $16,200 in lost rent, plus $300 interest and $225 fees.

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The tribunal also notes that since the change in the law last fall, strata's can no longer deny owners from renting out their condos so a similar case couldn't happen in the future.

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