When a Strata Bylaw Meets the Human Rights Code: Duty to Accommodate in BC

A strata has a no-dogs bylaw, filed at the Land Title Office, passed properly by a 3/4 vote years ago. An owner who is blind moves in with a guide dog. The council's instinct is to enforce the bylaw it has, or perhaps to put the question to owners at the next AGM.

Both instincts are wrong, and the reason is a single sentence in the Strata Property Act: a bylaw is not enforceable to the extent that it contravenes the Human Rights Code. The bylaw does not have to be amended, challenged or repealed first. To the extent it discriminates, it simply does not work.

This article is general information about the Strata Property Act and the BC Human Rights Code, not legal advice. Accommodation questions are highly fact-specific and the consequences of getting one wrong fall on the strata corporation. Get advice from a lawyer experienced in human rights and strata law before refusing a request.

The two statutes and how they meet

The Strata Property Act, section 121. A bylaw is not enforceable to the extent that it contravenes the Act, the regulations, the Human Rights Code or any other enactment or law. This is the hinge. It means a strata cannot rely on a properly passed bylaw as a defence to discrimination.

The BC Human Rights Code. Two provisions matter most in strata life. Section 8 prohibits discrimination in the provision of an accommodation, service or facility customarily available to the public. Section 10 deals with tenancy premises. Together they reach most of what a strata corporation does when it decides who may use what, and on what terms.

The protected grounds include physical or mental disability, family status, age, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, race, colour, ancestry and place of origin. Disability and family status generate the great majority of strata accommodation questions.

Related and often forgotten: BC's Guide Dog and Service Dog Act gives certified guide and service dog teams specific statutory access rights, independent of anything in your bylaws.

The duty to accommodate, in plain terms

Where a bylaw, rule, policy or practice creates a barrier connected to a protected ground, the strata corporation has a duty to take all reasonable and practical steps to remove that barrier, up to the point of undue hardship.

Three things about that standard:

"Undue" is a high bar. Some hardship is expected — that is the point of the word "undue." Inconvenience, cost that is real but manageable, and unhappiness among other owners do not meet it. Factors that genuinely bear on undue hardship include cost in the context of the strata's resources, health and safety, and substantial interference with the rights of others.

Accommodation is not a favour, and it is not a vote. A council cannot discharge the duty by putting the request to owners and reporting the result. If a 3/4 vote could override the Human Rights Code, section 121 would be meaningless.

The duty is procedural as well as substantive. A strata that never seriously engaged with a request can lose even if the eventual outcome would have been justified. How you handle it is part of what is judged.

Where this comes up in BC stratas

• Assistance animals against pet bylaws and size limits. Guide and service dogs first, but also support animals more broadly, where the connection to a disability is established.
• Accessible parking. A request to move to a closer, wider or otherwise suitable stall engages the duty, regardless of your allocation policy or waitlist. How stalls are held affects the mechanics — see parking stalls and storage lockers in BC stratas — but not the duty.
• Physical access. Ramps, automatic door operators, grab bars, lift access, thresholds. These usually involve alterations to common property, which brings in the approval routes in strata alteration requests.
• Family status. Bylaws or practices that restrict children's use of amenities, or that effectively penalise households with young children, are a recurring source of complaints.
• Age. Age restrictions in BC stratas were substantially curtailed by legislation, with a narrow surviving path for genuine seniors housing. A general "no one under 19" bylaw is not enforceable.
• Mental health and behaviour-based enforcement. Where behaviour that breaches a bylaw is connected to a disability, the strata still has legitimate interests in safety and in other residents' enjoyment — but it must consider accommodation as part of the enforcement decision rather than after it.
• Smoking and scent. Both directions arise: a resident with a respiratory disability seeking protection from smoke, and a resident with a dependency or medical authorisation. Our guide to cannabis and smoking bylaws covers the bylaw side.
• Amenity access and closures. Decisions to restrict or close shared facilities can affect residents differently — see can your strata close the pool or gym.

What a council should actually do when a request arrives

1. 1.Acknowledge it in writing, promptly. Say who is handling it and when the person can expect a response. Silence is itself a procedural failure.
2. 2.Treat it as a request for accommodation even if it is not labelled one. People rarely use the legal phrase. "I can't manage the stairs any more" is an accommodation request.
3. 3.Ask for the right information, not a diagnosis. What a strata generally needs is confirmation from an appropriate professional of the functional limitation and the need the accommodation addresses — not the underlying medical condition, not the patient's file. Asking for a diagnosis is a common and avoidable mistake.
4. 4.Explore options with the person. Accommodation is a two-way process. The person requesting it has to participate in finding a workable solution, and is not entitled to insist on their preferred option if another reasonable one meets the need.
5. 5.Consider more than one alternative. Document what you considered and why each was accepted or rejected.
6. 6.Decide in writing, with reasons. If you refuse, the reasons have to be capable of standing up.
7. 7.Handle it confidentially. Health information about a resident is not council gossip and does not belong in circulated minutes. Record the decision; keep the medical detail out of the general record. On what does belong in minutes, see what must be included in strata council meeting minutes.
8. 8.Get legal advice before refusing. Refusals are where liability crystallises. An hour of advice is cheaper than a tribunal file.

Who pays

This is the question councils ask first and the one with the least tidy answer.

Cost is a factor in the undue hardship analysis, assessed against the strata corporation's resources rather than in the abstract. Beyond that, how the cost of a particular accommodation should be allocated between the strata and the individual is genuinely contested and turns on the facts — the nature of the modification, whether it is a permanent improvement to common property, whether it benefits others, and what alternatives exist.

Do not assume the answer is "the owner pays," and do not assume it is "the strata pays." Get advice for the specific request. What a council should avoid entirely is using cost as a reflexive refusal without ever assessing it.

Which forum decides

This distinction is genuinely useful and rarely explained.

• The BC Human Rights Tribunal has primary jurisdiction over discrimination complaints. It is where a person goes to allege discrimination and to seek remedies including damages for injury to dignity.
• The Civil Resolution Tribunal, which handles most strata disputes in BC, can apply the Human Rights Code when deciding whether a bylaw is enforceable under section 121 — but it is not the venue for a discrimination claim or for damages of that kind.

Practically, that means a strata can face two proceedings arising from the same refusal: a CRT claim about the bylaw and a Human Rights Tribunal complaint about the conduct. It is another reason the cheap moment to get this right is the first email.

For owners making a request

• Put it in writing and describe the barrier and the need, not just the outcome you want.
• Get supporting information from an appropriate professional addressed to the functional need.
• Propose a solution, and be open to alternatives that meet the need.
• Ask for a [council hearing](/resources/strata-council-hearings-bc) if you are not getting a response. It is a statutory right and it forces a decision.
• Keep the record. Dates, who you asked, what you were told.
• Know your options. The Human Rights Tribunal and the CRT do different jobs, and free legal information services in BC can help you work out which fits.

Frequently asked questions

Can a BC strata enforce a no-pets bylaw against a guide dog? No. A bylaw is unenforceable to the extent it contravenes the Human Rights Code, and BC's Guide Dog and Service Dog Act gives certified guide and service dog teams specific access rights. The bylaw does not need to be amended first — it simply cannot be applied that way.

Does the strata have to accommodate a disability even if the bylaw was passed by a 3/4 vote? Yes. A properly passed bylaw is still unenforceable to the extent it contravenes the Human Rights Code, and a vote of owners cannot override the duty to accommodate.

Can our council ask for a doctor's note? You can ask for confirmation from an appropriate professional about the functional limitation and the need the accommodation addresses. You should not demand a diagnosis or medical records. Keep whatever you receive confidential.

What is "undue hardship"? The point at which accommodating a person would impose a burden that is genuinely excessive, assessed on factors including cost relative to the strata's resources, health and safety, and substantial interference with others' rights. Inconvenience, expense that is manageable, and objections from other owners do not reach it.

Where do we go if we disagree — the CRT or the Human Rights Tribunal? The BC Human Rights Tribunal handles discrimination complaints and remedies such as damages. The Civil Resolution Tribunal handles strata disputes and can apply the Human Rights Code in deciding whether a bylaw is enforceable, but it is not the forum for a discrimination claim.

Related reading

• Unenforceable Strata Bylaws in BC: Which Rules Actually Hold Up
• Can a BC Strata Ban Cannabis? Smoking and Cannabis Bylaws Explained
• Strata Bylaw Enforcement & Fines in BC: How to Do It Right
• Strata Council Hearings in BC: Your Right to Be Heard
• Your Rights as a Strata Owner in BC
• How to Change Strata Bylaws in BC (the 3/4 Vote Process)

Section 121 sits in Part 7 of the Strata Property Act, and the BC Human Rights Tribunal publishes plain-language guidance for stratas.

Accommodation requests are one of the few strata issues where a slow, informal response is itself the liability. Onehive's strata management gives councils a documented intake and response process — request a proposal.