Bea v. The Owners, Strata Plan LMS 2138,
2014 BCSC 826
In the classic board game of Monopoly
TM there are the official rules, and there are the
"house rules". House rules are for people who cannot
follow the official game rules, or who believe the rules do not
apply to them. The most widely known house rule is the one where
all the fines amassed during the game are paid into a pot in the
middle of the game board. Whoever lands on the "
Free Parking" square during the game wins the pot. Not
many people know that the Free Parking Rule is a "house
rule" and not part of the official game rules.
The LMS 2138 case shows the risks of playing by your own rules
when you live in a strata development. It all started in 2006, when
the strata council at a strata complex in Port Coquitlam amended
their bylaws to assign parking spaces to each strata lot rather
than continue with unrestricted parking. Unhappy with the new
assignment, the Bea's went to court.
