The decision in the case was posted online Friday, detailing the history of the dispute and the military council’s efforts to resolve it. Gurvinder Rooprai and Sukhjit Rooprai alleged that the mattress board failed to enforce its bylaws and that they “had no choice but to sell their mattresses in bulk,” the ruling states. Damages sought included $100,000 for “loss of use and enjoyment of their mattresses” and $100,000 for “mental distress,” $10,000 for moving expenses, $65,000 for loss of profit from the sale of their unit, $16,000 to pay off a mortgage-related penalty , and $8,000 in unspecified strata fees.
THE COMPLAINTS
The issues with the upstairs neighbours, the court heard, began in March 2021 when a family of three – two adults and a young child – moved into the one-bedroom unit above the Rooprais. In April, the first complaint was sent to the strata council. “Mr Rooprai emailed the strata manager to report that for two weeks since they moved in, their upstairs neighbors have been extremely loud from early morning until late at night. child was running and stomping his feet all day, which was becoming unbearable,” the decision states, noting that the military board’s response was to suggest the couple leave a note for their neighbors. The upstairs tenants told the council they had received the note and planned to get more carpeting to reduce the noise, according to an email reviewed by the court. However, the Rooprais complained again soon after, saying the upstairs owners were running their dishwasher late at night and making excessive noise in the early morning. For their part, the court noted, the upstairs neighbors began to complain on their own about the “loud banging” on the ceiling of Rooprais’ apartment which “scared their daughter”. What followed was a series of strata facilitated meetings and strata warnings with no official resolution. Court member Christine Gardner said that for the next several months, the mattresses received no complaints. But in August 2021, another complaint was sent by the Rooprais, this time saying their neighbors had also violated a bylaw that says a one-bedroom unit can only be occupied by two people. The strata “disagreeed with their argument that a small child is not a person” and found that the family of three had violated that regulation. The family was given six months to “resolve the issue” and within that time they sold their apartment and moved out of the building. The court disagreed with Rooprais’ contention that the Straat council did not apply the statute law. Gardner also rejected the Rooprais’ claim that the investigation and response to the noise complaints was unreasonable and concluded that there was no evidence that the Rooprais were “substantially unfairly treated.”
ABSENCE OF EVIDENCE
She also went a step further in her decision, saying that even if she had made such a finding – she would not have awarded the couple any damages. “I find that their claims that they sold their mattresses prematurely, as a result, along with the associated financial losses, are unsubstantiated,” Gardner wrote. “Rooprais did not provide information about when they listed their mattresses for sale, when they sold, their list price or their sale price.” He further said that he could not find in their favor on the issue of loss of use or enjoyment of their residence. “I would not have found the noise to be unreasonable. Rooprais’ noise logs recorded only a few instances of noise before 7am or after 9pm. Their video evidence was not time-stamped and while the recorded noise it was audible, I find it wasn’t particularly loud and generally only lasted a few seconds at a time,” he wrote. “Rooprais provided no decibel measurements of noise, no professional test to measure sound transfer between lots of layers, and the only witness statements are from members of Rooprais’s family, which I find to be non-objective. Thus, in the absence of any proven unjustified noise, I would not have awarded the damages claimed.’ As for mental distress, Gardner said medical evidence – which is required – was never submitted.
