BC Strata Flood Damage Dispute - Common Drain Blockage but Strata Refusing Interior Repair Costs
I own a ground-floor condo in BC. Our unit flooded after a blocked common drain in the parkade/common area. The plumber attended, cleared the blockage, and documented that it was a common-property drainage issue.
Strata arranged the plumber and emergency restoration company. The restoration company wanted to continue with demolition/asbestos testing etc., which seemed like it would take longer and cost more.
I emailed strata proposing that the restoration company invoice strata for work completed to date, and that our contractor complete the reconstruction instead. I said this would likely save time and money, and estimated the reconstruction at around $3–4k.
Before we proceeded, strata/council discussed it by email.
The email chain included:
- strata saying they may pay from strata funds,
- discussion about saving strata money,
- council voting on/approving the proposed repair cost/approach,
- and the instruction: “please tell him to proceed with the work.”
I also wrote that I did not think we needed to involve our personal insurance, and nobody corrected that.
Now that the work is done and the invoice exists, strata says they only approved our choice of contractor, not payment responsibility, and that interior finishes/improvements are owner responsibility under the bylaws.
Other context:
The strata president later said the parkade drains had not been cleaned in about 20 years.
We are a ground-floor unit, so common drainage backups are a bigger risk for us.
The building is older and council is now discussing broader plumbing replacement.
Does this sound like a reasonable CRT dispute in BC? Would the common drain blockage, lack of drain maintenance, and email approval/payment context support reimbursement, or is this likely treated as an owner-insurance/interior repair issue?