BCSC Declines To Confirm Strata Wind-Up Resolution For The First Time

Introduction

In July 2016, the Strata Property Act (British Columbia) (the "Act") was amended in order to make it easier for strata corporations¹ to voluntarily wind themselves up using a liquidator.² Previously, a resolution initiating the wind-up process and appointing a liquidator required unanimous approval from the owners. Unanimous approval was, not surprisingly, rarely achieved. To address this issue, the Act was amended to provide that a resolution receiving 80% approval would suffice, provided a court subsequently confirms the resolution. In The Owners, Strata Plan VR 1966, 2017 BCSC 1661, the B.C. Supreme Court declined, for the first time, to confirm a wind-up resolution. As the decision illustrates, court confirmation in this context will not be forthcoming in the face of certain defects in the resolution. Indeed, even where a strata corporation actually wants to "wind up in court", it may not succeed in doing so where its wind-up resolution was flawed