Strata Management Companies in British Columbia

[Strata act]

this is all very nice but try to enforce it! these guys can do what they want without impunity.

[The Huntington]

We just had our AGM and our management company is Baywest....we refused to support any of the special assessments Baywest wanted, we refused to pay them any extra and in the end, they got NOTHING!. We figure they'll be cancelling their contract pretty soon because they know we're onto them. If they don't, our new council will fire their incompetent butts.
We stood together and WON!

Contracting to Stratas wrote:

www.recbc.ca try and complain to them.
Ask for an investigation into conduct unbecoming a licensee under sec. 35 (2) of the real estate services act of B.C.
Contact the Minister of Finance. I think it's Kevin Falcon.
Good luck. Alot of these property managers are "royalty unto themselves." And any-time I've complained to the recbc, they've been rude and refused to do any-thing.
I thought certain property managers and their companies only ripped off contractors. But, they sure play alot of games with every-one and too often get away with it.
I have found this industry to be very frustrating over the years
There are too few good property managers.

[TiredOfDaveHensm an]

westender wrote:

We have tried to use the full force of the Strata property Act; specifically Section 179 and our owners, strata council and Baywest ignored us. We even tried to get Bob Harper involved and he sucked us in with support, then let us bleed ( asshole) The council hired a Baywest slimy lawyer to intimidate us and all it has done is waste our strata's money. Neither the RECB, or anyone cares to help and we are being bled financially. There is all sorts of illegal business going on in the building but because council is involved, nobody can do anything. We have started taking photo's of some of the transactions going on and hopefully will be able to use them against Baywest and our council. We figure whenn it gets too hot Baywest will bail and we'll be left finacially dry
<quoted text>

Have you thought about an arbitrator? Council members and the property management company can not treat an arbitrator with the type of disrespect you received. Put your ducks in a row, do the hard work, be a Rosa Parks otherwise you will be banging your head against the wall for a long time to come. This is the only way to make them accountable, and to get changes. As a victim of strata living I, as well as others are doing just that! Unfortuneatly it takes years and alot of money. This is what the industry is counting on, they found the loophole in the Strata Property Act and are using it to their advantage. It is upto us "single victims" to right the wrongs. I wish you all the best and if I can be of assistance please do not hesitate.

[TiredOfDaveHensm an]

The Huntington wrote:

We just had our AGM and our management company is Baywest....we refused to support any of the special assessments Baywest wanted, we refused to pay them any extra and in the end, they got NOTHING!. We figure they'll be cancelling their contract pretty soon because they know we're onto them. If they don't, our new council will fire their incompetent butts.
We stood together and WON!
<quoted text>

Congratulations! Democracy as it is suppossed to work. Share with us how you were able to get the other owners involved. What promted your members to stand together?

[bullied]

how about going without a property management company...without our income, property managers would be out for good.
as for me,i am going to court to have my repairs done that my council/property manager denied me. then I will take my council members to court for their part in this fiasco, I intend to have them face criminal charges as well as violation to the volunteer act.
maybe once and for all, councilors will be held accountable in court for their decissions.

[Westender]

Your strata obviously has a brain that works. Our strata is comprised of a bunch of lemmings, ostriches and council members who meet with Baywest with their pants around their ankles. Baywest has just come up with another brilliant special assessment to do a huge repair/upgrade WHATEVER on our elevator and council is already bending over for them. We have paid off Freissen's mortgage and now we're paying for his hookers...oh wait; our council is providing that service and paying Baywest to boot!

The Huntington wrote:

We just had our AGM and our management company is Baywest....we refused to support any of the special assessments Baywest wanted, we refused to pay them any extra and in the end, they got NOTHING!. We figure they'll be cancelling their contract pretty soon because they know we're onto them. If they don't, our new council will fire their incompetent butts.
We stood together and WON!
<quoted text>

[bullied]

how about getting a corporate lawyer instead of a strata lawyer? corporate law is taken seriously unlike strata law. Might be worth a try.

[Bertha]

Be carful when you don't give them money they out you for sell.That was our case,they a meting with the board and ask for money,we said not a peny,so now we are for sale.

[strata manager]

baywest wrote:

<quoted text>
Yes, I had some experience of Baywest quotes,$5000 to do a repair job and strata got a quote for the same thing for %1600.

in my experience most strata councils have very idea about whats going on and TRUST the management company to do a good job.

[Westender]

We suggested arbitration under Section 179, but Baywest stepped in and told our council to refuse mediation and instead hired a Baywest law firm Access. The assigned lawyer, Dougan,has been a lawyer for two minutes and is Access Law's bottom feeder. He has already spent all the allotted legal monies and done nothing to deal with the situation. He has made sure that Baywest's interests are taken care of first and then our strata gets the sloppy seconds. They have succeeded in this because most of the owners in the strata are either slum landlords who don't care, owners who have been intimidated by Baywest, or are part of the incestuous dysfunction in the strata. We have had so many management companies in the past 10 years, we have no idea of our finacial situation. And Baywest just keeps fining new EMERGENCY projects that can milk us dry. And the owners REFUSE to do an audit because THEY DON'T HAVE TO. The Strata Property Act continues to support Baywest, Dougan, Dave Hensman and other predators( in the name of God!)

TiredOfDaveHensman wrote:

<quoted text>
Have you thought about an arbitrator? Council members and the property management company can not treat an arbitrator with the type of disrespect you received. Put your ducks in a row, do the hard work, be a Rosa Parks otherwise you will be banging your head against the wall for a long time to come. This is the only way to make them accountable, and to get changes. As a victim of strata living I, as well as others are doing just that! Unfortuneatly it takes years and alot of money. This is what the industry is counting on, they found the loophole in the Strata Property Act and are using it to their advantage. It is upto us "single victims" to right the wrongs. I wish you all the best and if I can be of assistance please do not hesitate.

[Westender]

Thanks for the suggestion; they still have to deal with the Strata Property Act.

bullied wrote:

how about getting a corporate lawyer instead of a strata lawyer? corporate law is taken seriously unlike strata law. Might be worth a try.

[Huntington]

We have done our research about Baywest as well as talking to people with horror stories about management companies such as Baywest. Also, several owners found this forum and have been following the comments and thanks to you all, it helped us make some tough decisions.

TiredOfDaveHensman wrote:

<quoted text>
Congratulations! Democracy as it is suppossed to work. Share with us how you were able to get the other owners involved. What promted your members to stand together?

[Contracting to Stratas]

contracting to strata wrote:

what sort of work do you do ?

I just noticed this and haven't been getting updates from this forum.

I unfortunately cannot share what I do for a living at the moment. There are too many property managers lurking here. They can cause me problems if I say who I am.

What I will tell is that I am a Journeyman in my industry and a service company owner.

[bertha]

Thank you, thank you for all of you,your tips and your ideas put us in the way of look for thers alternative.

[Stratum]

BLACK MONDAY AUGUST 1 2011

Today we remember strata / condo owners who have been abused by the BC Governement, Developers, and Strata Management Companies.

This should never happen to anyone. This is our day to remember the BULLIES, and ABUSER'S.

This is also a day to think about RICH COLEMAN who one year ago cancelled the Leaky Condo Grants.

May you rot in HELL COLEMAN and your Liberal Government. Never trust a ex cop, developer, Landlord, or a Preacher, Christian Singer Strata Manager, and all of the unscrupulous STRATA MANAGEMENT COMPANIES who are nothing more than THUGS,THIEVES and BULLIES.
AMEN

[Free Strata Advice]

I have read the comments on this topix forum and being a investigator I would suggest that any of you who have real issues to contact (CHOA) the Condo Home Owners Association or VISOA the Vancouver Island Strata Home Owners Association. The problem with Topix is that you can hide your identity and you could use other identities. CHOA or VISOA will help you and give you good advice. I can tell you by reading the posts that some of the advice is coming from a Strata Manager and a sleazy one. The person we have been following is a manipulator and a very good one at that. If you truly have a problem then get professional assistance, a forum such as this and pardon my expression is no more than a pissing party.

[The Huntington]

Obviously you have read NOTHING if you suggest CHOA...read all the comments and you'll see how many stratas have been burnt by CHAO. They are in cahoots with the management companies and their lawyers work for the management companies.....who the heck are you?

Free Strata Advice wrote:

I have read the comments on this topix forum and being a investigator I would suggest that any of you who have real issues to contact (CHOA) the Condo Home Owners Association or VISOA the Vancouver Island Strata Home Owners Association. The problem with Topix is that you can hide your identity and you could use other identities. CHOA or VISOA will help you and give you good advice. I can tell you by reading the posts that some of the advice is coming from a Strata Manager and a sleazy one. The person we have been following is a manipulator and a very good one at that. If you truly have a problem then get professional assistance, a forum such as this and pardon my expression is no more than a pissing party.

[Free Strata Advice]

You are quite right. CHOA was used as a example of where to research information. We discovered nine years ago that CHOA had rolled over and became nothing more than a front man for the lawyers, management companies, and the like. There is a new Strata Association being formed to assist owners.

The Huntington wrote:

Obviously you have read NOTHING if you suggest CHOA...read all the comments and you'll see how many stratas have been burnt by CHAO. They are in cahoots with the management companies and their lawyers work for the management companies.....who the heck are you?
<quoted text>

[Unreal]

I went to www.stratawatch.ca and read the comments and letters by Hensman. Hensman was the manager of our complex Alderglen. We had three owners who held a SGM to remove him. Hensman claimed that not all owners were notified of the SGM and Teamworks is still our management company. I must say that we never saw this so called $15,ooo.oo rebate in our budget, the only thing that was true was that we no longer have Hensman as our manager, we now have Nini Nestor. There are allegations that when Nini Nestor worked for a engineering company in Abbotsford she cooked the books and was fired. One other note, there are allegations that Hensman convinced our strata council to sue the three owners,for interference, which puzzles me as owner, because all owners have a right to ask questions. I have a question for those of you who have dealt with Teamwork Property Management. Why does Dave Hensman act like this, why does he fight owners. Why does he threaten to throw 75 year old ladies out of strata council meetings or to call the cops on them? What is his reason? It has been my experience that when someone like Hensman fight, lie and act in such manner that there must be money in it, or he is a psychopath. My sister lives in a condo in Vancouver, and when their strata council had issues with the strata management company, they had a meeting and came to a gentlemans agreement and the management company gave notice and that was it.

I ask all of you on this forum, why would Hensman act in this way.. what is he hiding? What are his motives?

[Strata act]

Westender wrote:

We suggested arbitration under Section 179, but Baywest stepped in and told our council to refuse mediation and instead hired a Baywest law firm Access. The assigned lawyer, Dougan,has been a lawyer for two minutes and is Access Law's bottom feeder. He has already spent all the allotted legal monies and done nothing to deal with the situation. He has made sure that Baywest's interests are taken care of first and then our strata gets the sloppy seconds. They have succeeded in this because most of the owners in the strata are either slum landlords who don't care, owners who have been intimidated by Baywest, or are part of the incestuous dysfunction in the strata. We have had so many management companies in the past 10 years, we have no idea of our finacial situation. And Baywest just keeps fining new EMERGENCY projects that can milk us dry. And the owners REFUSE to do an audit because THEY DON'T HAVE TO. The Strata Property Act continues to support Baywest, Dougan, Dave Hensman and other predators( in the name of God!)
<quoted text>

Bayweest seem to love spending a strata's money on high priced lawyers, each time we had even a minor issue with owners etc Baywest wouldn't say 'well this is what the act says' they would say 'we should get a legal opinion on this from our strata lawyer' and spend a small fortune on legal fees.