Alberta licence plates landed Lake Country, B.C. woman with strata fine

A woman from Lake Country, B.C., was fined $130 by her strata for not answering questions about her husband’s Alberta licence plates fast enough, though she won’t have to pay it.

According to a May 4 BC Civil Resolution Tribunal decision quashing the fine, a Lake Country strata council voted unanimously in favour of a rule that would see resident vehicles have a valid B.C. licence and insurance.

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“As well, all vehicles must have valid storage insurance on all uninsured vehicles.”

Within days of that decision, the strata reached out to Jade whose husband parks his truck with Alberta plates in their garage, and told her she had to produce a valid copy of her insurance.

Laycock responded by saying, among other things, she “wanted to do some research” on whether the strata could request such information.

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Around five months later, in November, she did produce the letter from the truck’s insurer, stating that the truck was insured for use in B.C. under an auto insurance policy obtained through an Albertan brokerage.

Nonetheless, on Nov. 19, 2021, the strata council fined Laycock $130 for refusing to provide the insurance information earlier.

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The BC Civil Resolution Tribunal, however, reversed the decision, pointing out that the wording from the initial meeting where the bylaw was passed and the subsequent demand on Laycock differed.

In particular, the tribunal pointed out that the original wording only asked her to “explain why the truck had an out of province plate.”

She did so in her July 26, 2021 email.

“She wrote that her husband drove the vehicle between Alberta and BC and used it in both provinces,” the tribunal wrote.

That means Laycock was not actually required to provide proof of insurance.

The strata was ordered to cancel the fines.