An owner’s dispute with her strata corporation over enforcement of a lien reached British Columbia’s Court of Appeal after her unit was sold under a court order. The sale closed on December 30, 2025. Maryam Hamedanian challenged two procedural orders, sought to vary a chambers judge’s refusal of a stay, and asked to be excused from court fees. Her appeal of the original vesting order was still before the BC Supreme Court. The Court of Appeal didn’t decide that underlying appeal.
On October 13, 2026, the three judge panel dismissed both interlocutory appeals and the related applications. The orders under review had refused or adjourned requests while directing a full day for the challenge to the sale order. The appellate court found no reviewable error in that case management. Staying an order that refused a stay wouldn’t undo a property sale that had already taken place, and arguments about whether the original sale was justified didn’t establish an error in the procedural rulings.
The Court awarded special costs to the strata corporation. Section 118 of BC’s Strata Property Act permits reasonable legal costs of enforcing a lien to be added to the amount owing. The Court also found the former owner’s conduct sufficiently reprehensible to justify special costs, pointing to serious allegations against lawyers and judges made without a factual basis and requests for remedies outside the Court’s powers. It recognized how difficult it can be to litigate without counsel, but concluded that difficulty didn’t excuse the conduct.
For strata boards and owners, the case distinguishes enforcement of a lien from the narrower questions a court decides when reviewing a stay or another procedural order. The award of special costs arose from both the statutory lien enforcement provision and the conduct found in this particular proceeding. It isn’t a general finding that every strata corporation can recover special costs whenever a dispute reaches court.
Original judgment: Hamedanian v. The Owners, Strata Plan LMS 4102, 2026 BCCA 405, Court of Appeal for British Columbia, October 13, 2026. https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/ca/26/04/2026BCCA0405.htm