Yes. Under section 147 of the Strata Property Act, an owner may assign some or all of their powers or duties to their tenant (except for the landlord’s responsibility for fines and costs of remedying a contravention of the bylaws or rules).
A written notice of assignment must be provided to the strata corporation before the assignment of powers or duties is effective. Although there is no prescribed form, the written notice must include:
- the name of the tenant
- the powers and duties assigned to the tenant
- the time period during which the assignment is effective (ie. the start date and the end date).
Also note that if a landlord has entered into a long-term lease of three or more years with a tenant, section 148 of the Strata Property Act automatically assigns many of the owner’s rights to the tenant if certain conditions are met.
Commentary
It is important that any assignment of powers or duties include both the effective date when the assignment starts and when the assignment ends. If an owner attempts to use his or her powers after assigning them to a tenant, this can cause significant confusion for the tenant and the strata corporation.
Assignments of owners rights to tenants are more common where an owner wants a tenant to participate in strata corporation governance, as simple voting proxies allow an owner to have a tenant vote on his or her behalf without giving up any power to the tenant.
