Is Your Strata’s Registered Address Up To Date?
Your strata must register its official mailing address with the Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA). Often the first registered address is that of the developer; and subsequent updates will be the address of the current strata management agency. However – many stratas forget to update this address.
Self-managed stratas in particular may not even be aware of what address is on file at LTSA. Or for professionally managed stratas, the incoming management company may have missed updating this important record.
Why is this important? If the strata corporation is a respondent in a CRT dispute, it’s possible that default decision could be made against the strata, if the registered address is not kept current.
The CRT has seen an increased number of default decisions involving strata corporation respondents, which may be in part due to inaccurate mailing addresses.
Under the current CRT rules, amended April 1, 2019, the CRT now serves most respondents named in a Dispute Notice by regular mail under subsection 1 of its rule 2.2. The Dispute Notice is deemed received 10 days after mailing in most circumstances (subsection 2). For strata corporations, this means the Dispute Notice is mailed to its most recent registered address filed at the Land Title Office.
Rule 2.2 — How to Serve Respondents
1) The tribunal will serve the Dispute Notice and instructions for response on a respondent by regular mail if
- a) the applicant has provided the name and address information required for service by ordinary mail,
- b) the mailing address for the respondent is in Canada, and
- c) the respondent is a person, corporation, strata corporation, partnership, society, co-operative association or municipality.
2) A Dispute Notice and instructions for response served by the tribunal are deemed received 10 days after the day they are mailed by the tribunal unless
- a) the tribunal receives notification that the Dispute Notice and instructions for response are received earlier, or
- b) the tribunal receives satisfactory information that the Dispute Notice and instructions for response were not received by the respondent.
In the event the strata corporation’s registered address is incorrect and the CRT is not notified of such, it is likely that the dispute will proceed through the CRT’s default process and result in a default decision. Although the strata corporation is able to file a cancellation request after it is notified of a default decision against it, the strata corporation could avoid that process, and the possibility its cancellation request is denied, by ensuring its registered address at the Land title Office is accurate.
How to update the address
It’s simple to do – the Form D “STRATA CORPORATION CHANGE OF MAILING ADDRESS” is one of the simplest SPA forms to complete, and requires only the mailing address and date, alogn with the signature of the authorized strata manager or two council members (or one council member if council consists of one).
The Form D must be filed electronically to the LTSA’s Electronic Filing System website (unless the strata consists of 7 of fewer units, in which case it can be filed in person). Strata corporations who utilize a management company can ask the company to file the Form D. However, self-managed strata corporations with more than seven strata lots have an added expense and time requirement to seek third-party assistance for their document filing. Fortunately, there are many lawyers and Notary Publics throughout B.C. who are well-versed in the process. As well, larger registry agent companies like Dye & Durham Corporation are able to facilitate this process efficiently and cost-effectively.