Project Overview

The building envelope repair project for Sunridge Estates started in 2002 and was substantially complete in 2005. The first special levy was approved in August 2004, and, including legal fees, nearly 6 million dollars was paid into the project, with the cost to Unit 409 being almost $100,000.

In violation of express protections provided in terms of the project contract, hundreds of trees were needlessly removed  to create panoramic views, contrary to s.71 of the Strata Property Act and restrictive covenants that run with the land, destroying a valuable urban forest in blatant disregard of geotechnic, privacy, esthetic, economic, and legal concerns. Some trees were killed by exposing their roots and crushing them under deliberate storage of heavy weights during the building envelope project - but most were systematically eliminated during the next five years, transforming what had been beautiful park-like landscaping into a scandal and unrecognizable embarrassment.

With then realtor, Al Macleod, directly and indirectly at the center of strata affairs from 2003 to 2013, a few rogues formed a corrupt alliance of scofflaws. During this period it was shocking to see Mr. Macleod and Georgia Title permanently destroy millions of dollars of work by registered landscape architects to create their own preferred views, and my neighbours Sherrill Berg and Mae Reid, city politician, avoid paying user fees by diverting about half a million dollars of surplus special levy funds to build extra decks in 2007, contrary to the law and against the AGM direction of owners who paid the special levy.

The common property was left  looking like a war zone for over 5 years, from 2005 to 2010, during which time I was increasingly alarmed as a sudden rash of buildings sinking, underground pipes breaking, and pavement cracking developed as the roots of removed trees that were not reinstated or replaced decomposed. 

Owners fled in droves while Al Macleod advertised "panoramic" views and "bonus" decks for sale and avoided paying user fees for taking common property for his own exclusive use by offloading the cost of demolition, reconstruction, and maintenance of rotting illegally added extra decks onto others. Even though almost all of those selling boycotted him as a realtor, Al MacLeod still managed to profit from about half the sales by acting on behalf of buyers taking advantage of hardship sales at fire-sale prices.  

AS I COMPLAINED - THE STRATA MANAGEMENT TEAM ATTACKED

When I complained about lack of repairs and maintenance and significant changes in the use and appearance of common property after the building envelope project Mr. Macleod told me that he had a right to act against critical owners, and he and Georgia Title had beautiful sound trees that I had managed to protect and preserve around Unit 409 cut down, in full knowledge of their value and importance to me and to the geotechnical stability of the surrounding land. Our property was vandalized repeatedly, and our lives have never been the same.

I was charged $500 for a $15 air vent to accommodate COPD, and once my lungs were known to be sensitive they were subjected to a chemical assault where large gaps around replacement windows and doors THROUGHOUT the INTERIOR of our home were filled with toxic sealant formulated for EXTERIOR use. The extortion and assault were obviously criminal, and the project manager returned my cheque to me, uncashed.

It was not just that the formulation was toxic - the amount used was so excessive that the sealant hung down from the top of our windows like valences and rolled down the sides like swags. The fumes poisoned our air so much that I had to move to a motel. This was only done to us, after I told the strata management team about the vulnerability of my lungs. It was not done to any other unit, at least not to my knowledge after 10 years' of complaining about it to anyone who would listen.

The strata management team responded to our complaints by trying to destroy evidence and  threatening us with lawyers if we tried to defend against what appeared to be a targeted assault. After the strata eventually "remedied" the "mistake" by replacing the gobs of exterior formula with an interior formula applied over backer rod, with no apology or admission of responsibility. we had to keep our windows open for nearly a year, including the winter, until the residual fumes finally dissipated, and my lungs have never felt the same as they did before. 

Excerpts from the Criminal Code, C-46

“bodily harm” means any hurt or injury to a person that interferes with the health or comfort of the person and that is more than merely transient or trifling in nature;

“complainant” means the victim of an alleged offence;

“weapon” means any thing used in causing injury to any person, or for the purpose of threatening or intimidating any person.

21. Every one is a party to an offence who actually commits it; does or omits to do anything for the purpose of aiding any person to commit it; or abets any person in committing it.

180. Every one commits a common nuisance who fails to discharge a legal duty and thereby causes physical injury to any person, is guilty of an indictable offence.

219. Every one is criminally negligent who in doing anything, or in omitting to do anything that it is his duty to do, shows wanton or reckless disregard for the lives or safety of other persons.

221. Every one who by criminal negligence causes bodily harm to another person is guilty of an indictable offence.

245. Every one who administers or causes to be administered to any person any destructive or noxious thing is guilty of an indictable offence if he intends thereby to aggrieve or annoy that person.

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After the building envelope repairs were completed hundreds more trees and most of the landscaping was destroyed, patios were sabotaged, and fraudulent misrepresentations were normalized.

Owners sold as they could not afford to lose years of property value while the real estate market was skyrocketing and peace and enjoyment and money they paid in good faith was effectively stolen by the strata management team, most notably, Al MacLeod, Coquitlam City Councillor Mae Reid, and her "friend" Councillor Sherrill Berg, to name a few of the most prominent members.

 Limited common property was misrepresented, repairs and maintenance were sectioned off, downgrading and excluding strata plan patios for years while balconies were upgraded, repaired promptly, and fully maintained. Exterior water taps were not extended as specified, marine enamel was replaced with primer, design and material defects, material downgrades, and years of inexcusable delays prevailed while the strata management team ignored facts and law and warranties

Those who paid the most got less than they bargained for, while those who paid the least and took the most at the expense of others got more than they bargained for, and those who complained were viciously attacked without mercy.

Make It Right

This strata complex was vandalized during the building envelope project with damaging design defects to our addresses, taps, windows and doors, wanton destruction of trees and patios, and all kinds of downgrades, resulting in much higher expense for future maintenance. 

Strata owners should not be vilified and attacked in their own homes for trying to hold accountable those acting, if not with criminal intent, in major conflicts of interest to escape paying their fair share.

This is Al MacLeod. The strata corporation has never held him accountable for his conduct as he churned strata managers, owners, common property, and bank accounts in shocking conflicts of interest. Mr. MacLeod retaliated against challengers - claiming that he had a right to act against them - which influenced others to attack as well. 

This is Cindy Norman, Al MacLeod's girlfriend who was working in the accounting department of Teamwork Property Management when Mr. MacLeod arranged for their strata management services - in Abbotsford - for Sunridge Estates in Coquitlam.

This is Teamwork, Mr. MacLeod's long-distance property management company hand picked in the most alarming conflict of interest, fined $7,000 for professional misconduct.

http://www.stratawatch.ca/directory/411/SR-News/special-report-teamworkpm.html

Leaky condo owners should be able to trust their members of council not to tamper with strata funds, act in violation of the law and bylaws, or willfully destroy property.

Equal protection before the law should be a true Charter right - not legal fiction.  The courts should ensure that law abiding homeowners who are deprived of affordable access to justice are not bullied by those with a monopoly on the practice of law and ensure that they are able to rely on legislation, terms of contract, and Project Specifications without having to litigate in a system of discrimination against the vulnerable and deference to the elite. 

Anyone who nefariously betrays the trust of homeowners, violates bylaws, legislation, and terms of contract, or otherwise plays a role instrumental in creating foreseeable damage to others should be held accountable for the resultant damage and loss.  

With all due respect to Al MacLeod, and others acting contrary to law for their own unjust enrichment, the whole of the circumstances raise apprehensions that I was assaulted and the property was vandalized in a deliberate 5-year plan to swindle owners out of almost half a million dollars of special levy funds to entrench illegally added extra decks, avoid paying user fees, and destroy landscaping to create unobstructed panoramic views for the principal benefit of himself at the expense of the strata.

Al MacLeod was also reprimanded by the Real Estate Board for misconduct arising out of what appears to be a $10,000 embezzlement and money laundering operation that may have placed the strata corporation at risk of liability for the resultant loss to the Halfords, former owners of 518.

Professional people should not cause injury to their clients or pretend to be deaf and dumb for years - instead they should be quick to provide reasonable explanations and corrective actions -
worthy of respect. Professional reputations should be able to withstand reasonable scrutiny.

I would hope that this blog might motivate 

MORRISON HERSHFIELD

 and HEATHERBRAE CONSTRUCTION
 

to admit responsibility for causing foreseeable damage
and avoid defective designs, materials, and work in the future.


We ask Morrison Hershfield, Heatherbrae Construction, the Condo Advocate, Alan Cadwell

the Homeowner Protection Office,  this Strata Corporation and its former agent, Al MacLeod 

and lawyers, Stephen Hamilton

 and Adrienne Murray 

to stop looking for excuses to avoid responsibility for the roles they played and put their heads together to make it right.

**********

I would like the strata to reinstate the original swing-in door design and restore the complex to a standard that at least meets its original condition and function of the buildings



 so it is not vandalized the way 409 was


















negligently - or maliciously
 
 I would like Morrison Hershfield or whoever is responsible for the change to

1. reinstate the building numbers on lower units to their original proximity to the light so ambulances and visitors can see the numbers - coming from east or west - day and night
   

I would like Heatherbrae to

 extend the pipes to 409's exterior taps as required in the project specifications, and as Heatherbrae did for others

and reinstate 409's east window flashing
which Heatherbrae damaged, removed, and never replaced
and replace the east siding on 409 that Heatherbrae left damaged

 

 I would like those responsible to compensate me for motel bills

 and personal injury from toxic sealant formulated for outdoor use being applied inside 409 by Heatherbrae in copious quantities

 

knowing I had lung disease

1. 

Heatherbrae removed the old weather stripping around 409's front door and left it off for months. We wanted it replaced with new, the same as on other units.  Eventually we had to replace it ourselves.

We would like the cladding that we paid for to be put on the hydro kiosk where it belongs instead on on the ground where it is wasted

p

so that the kiosk in front of 409 matches the building again, the way it did originally

 The stucco on it no longer matches - and was left is shocking condition - for years 

We would like 405 fixed so the front wall dries without leaving a wet spot after it rains 

We would like the front staircases in Phase 2 replaced with cement 
because for YEARS the strata management team failed to maintain the paint

   
We would like the strata management team to restore the common property and buildings to good condition and reinstate the trees.

For approximately 6 million dollars we would like owners to get fair value from the engineers, architects, contractors, lawyers, and others involved in this project 

http://www.straight.com/news/354256/do-rain-screen-requirements-bc-bube ildings-make-sense

Uwe Naumann, a former BCIT building-envelope-technology instructor, is a German-trained engineer with suspicions that the rain-screen requirement for residential buildings adopted as part of the 2006 provincial building code benefits mostly engineering and construction companies, not homeowners, and is the “biggest fraudulent thing going on in British Columbia.”

There’s also no substitute for good, old-fashioned design sense. “I always say the old architects, they knew it was raining in Vancouver,” he said. “The new architects, they don’t seem to think that it’s raining in Vancouver.”  I say, the architects ARE NOT STUPID, there is method to their madness. They know how to pull the strings to PROFIT FROM THEIR OWN WRONGS.

According to Naumann, stopping water penetration is as easy as putting the right flashing or weatherproofing material on windows, doors, vents, and other openings. 

“And if people do it that way right, I tell them the building is good for as long as a whole building lasts.” 

All that is true - it’s common sense. But who can the homeowner trust? We KNOW what happens when the job is NOT done right.

  

If you want the job done right the safest way is to DO IT YOURSELF if you are competent to do so. 

The problem is that most home owners are not competent builders, and construction companies ARE NOT STUPID - they know “doing it right” spoils their opportunities to PROFIT FROM THEIR OWN WRONGS.

When we complained about defects to Heatherbrae Construction they retaliated

 They took off the head, and left it off with 409's siding all gouged

Heatherbrae left the matching foot on, with progressively growing black at the bottom of 409's window. We don't know if it is mould, or rot, or Heatherbrae's idea of a logo

The principle of 90% planning and 10% implementation is no secret. The secret lies in WHO is doing the planning, and WHO is doing the implementation, and - in the case of unjust enrichment - WHY.  

The truth must be exposed, and penalties must be much swifter and harsher than they are  to motivate these jerks to DO IT RIGHT. Effective solutions are obvious for not just construction failures, but for corruption in governance.

So let’s say that, although architects are not stupid, politicians ARE. To put it kindly. Having said that, politicians, just like architects and construction companies, are expert in putting their own interest above the public interest. Historical patterns shows that too many politicians operate on the principle of “look good” at the expense of society.

I really believe that legislation should stop pretending that corporations are people and start making politicians and professionals accountable and liable with imprisonment and compensatory damages, instead of promoting further profit from their previous misconduct at the expense of the innocent. These pillars of power and privilege should spend a couple of hours in the local community, immobilized in stocks, with a photo and report in the sport pages. I think the prison population would be the opposite of what it is today if levels of responsibility corresponded to levels or power, remuneration, and damage, and the well-being of society would sky rocket along with the Earth’s.

In October 2008, three years after the October 2005 completion of leaky condo repairs 

this is just one of the problems owners had to deal with:

If any building envelope professionals or strata agents
have reason to be less than proud of their role in this project
please change your conduct.

MAKE IT RIGHT

***********************************************

Significant Change in Door Design

Replacing the inswing doors to the patios with outswings was a significant change during the building envelope project that was not comprehended by owners. It is a design defect that is dysfunctional and expensive to rectify, but the damage is too significant to ignore.




















The drawing list for the building envelope rehabilitation showed the existing hinged door details. I couldn't tell by looking at the new hinged patio door details whether it was inswing or outswing, but I didn't expect the swing to change.


14 Setting out of Work page 11 of 17 states that:
.6 Drawings are, in part, diagrammatic and are provided to convey the design intent and scope of Work as well as indicate the general and approximate location, arrangement and size of fixtures and equipment. Obtain more accurate information about locations, arrangements and sizes at the site and become familiar with conditions and spaces affecting these matters before proceeding with Work. Where job conditions require reasonable changes in indicated locations and arrangements, make changes with no additional cost to owner.






The original in-swing doors wasted no usable space inside or outside. The design did not spoil the limited common property of any strata lot.

The new out-swing doors take away 30 inches of patio seating space. It also blocks the air and view.

The strata management team destroyed the function of our patio by a combination of acts and decisions, starting with the loss of space taken up by the trellis planter replacing the tree cut down without notice to extend 407's deck and ending with changing the patio door design from in-swing to out-swing from Starline. Making it worse, the strata management team has cruelly and persistently deprived us of a remedy for decades.

Starline doors are available in in-swing and out-swing designs.http://www.starlinewindows.com/vinyl/?q=swingdoor. In-swing doors were installed by the developer for a reason - USABLE space.  

http://longlife.ca/doors/?gclid=CL3X5oWT3roCFe5cMgodiE8ATg

Starline’s equivalent to the home warranty insurance required by the Homeowner Protection Act against unintended water penetration that causes, or is likely to cause, material damage to the home was quickly voided by the stresses caused by structural movement when 409 repeatedly sank as the roots of destroyed trees decomposed. I don't know what the strata's building envelope warranty was supposed to be good for other than extra insurance premiums, but the door design defect has been expensive for the strata corporation and devastating for 409.

Even on a patio where the space is not too narrow, the outswing door blocks off dining room sliders, air flow, and the view outside without justification. On 409's narrow deck the 8-foot high trellis planter takes 18 inches away, which added to 30 inches for the outswing door is a total loss of 48 inches, and this has made the furniture that we had on our patio impossible to use for years.


















Outswing doors may be standard in the Bahamas because of hurricanes, and may be recommended for high rises exposed to strong wind driven rain near the ocean. But here it is very hard to come up with any legitimate reason for spoiling our patio where the detriment is so obvious and there has never been enough wind to sound our wind chimes more than 2 or 3 times in 25 years, and there was never any moisture penetration from the patio doors in the moisture testing reports that I saw and there was definitely no moisture penetration into the building from the door on Unit 409.

I estimate the swing-out design added thousands of dollars per door in extra strata costs to demolish and reconstruct brand new decks in order to add 30-inch extensions in an insane attempt to compensate for the loss of 30 inches of useful space without s.71 approval by the owners.

The strata's lengthening of patios by 30 inches to the south may have been welcomed by some units, but for 409 it acts as more of a distraction than anything else because our patio has always been long enough from north to south. The problem is it is not wide enough from east to west because  there are trellis planters trespassing on the east side of our limited common property in place of a tree on the common property.  From the estimates we have received, it may cost another $3,000 to reinstate a swing-in door style to restore some degree of function to the limited common property that we purchased and have lost use of.

The maple tree that screened the windows between Unit 409 and Unit 508 and Unit 407 was cut down to extend Unit 407's deck across all of what was originally shared common property between the patios.
The strata adding an out-swing door ruined what little was left of the seating in our only outdoor dining space. When the 30-inch swing-out  is combined with approximately 18 inches for trellis planters the space remaining on our deck is no longer fit for its intended purpose. There is no place left for our patio table and chairs and umbrella.

The swing-out door design spoiled not just the function of our patio but it also contributed another foreseeably stressful and disrespectful dispute, the whole of which is damaging my health.

We have been unable to go outside to entertain friends for dinner at our patio table since 2004

We tried.
- we bought a smaller table
- and our guest's clothes were ruined when red wine spilled
- while the table was moved to make room to leave the seat


Because of the new door - our deck is not fun anymore.

Not fun to entertain.
Not fun to grow flowers.
Not fun at all.















The strata council has not approved our repeated requests for reinstatement of the original swing-in door style, even at our own expense, and our repeated requests for accommodation of the trellis planters outside of our limited common property have been bypassed while extra decks and garages were built for others at our expense. ALL of our requests for remedies for more than 10 years were ignored or endlessly delayed. This is most unreasonable, and very unfair. It has cost me many thousands of dollars in health care, legal fees, and loss of earnings. I've had more than I can stand. If we can't get fair and respectful treatment, we are seeking compensation and costs, but the toll on me is profound.