The owner of a Coquitlam condo is entitled to compensation of $1,000 plus interest and fees for noise disruptions caused by weights being dropped on the floor of a common-area gym.
But that’s less than the $4,175.44 the owner, Dana Karen Metcalfe, had requested when she took her case to the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal.
In a decision released recently, tribunal member Maria Montgomery said while Metcalfe hadn’t proven the noise was a nuisance, the strata failed to reasonably investigate her complaints for a year.
As part of the judgement, Montgomery ordered the strata to commence such an investigation within 60 days.
Metcalfe said she first complained about noise from the gym in October 2021, after it had become more noticeable following the end of pandemic restrictions.
The following February, she submitted a petition signed by the residents of all four occupied units on her floor requesting the strata do more to prevent the noise from dropping weights in the gym such as installing soundproofing and restricting its hours of operation to between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Metcalfe said she communicated with the strata several times through 2022, reporting noise from dropped weights, sometimes beyond the posted gym hours of 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The strata said it would consult with the suppliers of the gym equipment and in October 2022, it added signs asking gym users to be more careful about dropping weights and minimizing noise.
But, Metcalfe told the tribunal, the noise problem persisted. She said she even complained to the building’s concierge, who would attend the gym and ask users to refrain from dropping weights.
In November 2022, Metcalfe attended a strata council meeting to discuss the noise issue and the council decided to remove the weights from the gym for a two-week trial period.
According to the tribunal, Metcalfe didn’t make another noise complaint until Dec. 26 of that year, by which time the weights had been reinstated to the gym.
At a subsequent strata meeting, it was decided to obtain quotes for mats in an attempt to dampen the noise and a request to return the gym’s hours to the pre-pandemic schedule of 5 a.m. to midnight was approved. The hours were further amended to 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. in May 2023.
But the mats were never acquired because the $5,600 cost was not in the strata’s budget.
The strata also said the gym already had rubberized flooring and there was no guarantee additional padding would solve the noise problem.
Several strata council members also signed a statement that they didn’t hear undue noise from dropped weights when they visited the gym or common property areas on the floor beneath it.
In her ruling, Montgomery said while Metcalfe reported the gym noise was affecting her ability to study, work, live and sleep in her own home, she didn’t provide decibel readings or a professional assessment of the disturbances. Nor was she able to provide corroborating accounts from other residents on her floor other than one statement about the noise in general.
Montgomery said that wasn’t enough to establish “objective evidence of the noise.”
The tribunal member said for its part, the strata stated it had responded to Metcalfe’s complaints by inviting her to speak at a council meeting, amended rules in the gym to prohibit the dropping of weights and posted signs about the changes, altered the gym’s hours of operation, investigated possible solutions like adding more mats or changing the equipment, removed the equipment for a period of time and checked on the noise problem itself from another floor.
Montgomery, though, said that wasn’t enough.
She suggested in her ruling the strata could have conducted sound testing while replicating gym activities. Then, based upon the results, it could have taken steps to lock up the free weights during certain hours or limited the hours the building elevator provides access to the gym.
“I find that the strata’s response to the complaints was not reasonable and was significantly unfair,” wrote Montgomery.
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