Blog Post

[Updated on November 23, 2021]

On October 28, 2021, some sections of Bill 21 – Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2021, S.B.C. c. 27, came into effect. Some of the effective changes are to the Civil Resolution Tribunal Act (CRTA). One important change is to the standard of review for decisions made in areas in which the CRT is considered to have specialized expertise, which includes strata property, cooperative association, and society claims.

The standard of review describes the degree to which a reviewing court should defer to, or accept, the decision of an administrative tribunal. The amended standard of review for decisions made about strata property, cooperative association, and society disputes is now “patently unreasonable” for findings of fact, law and exercises of discretion. This means that generally, a reviewing court will only set aside these types of findings or decisions if they are plainly or obviously wrong.

The CRTA used to say that the standard of review in the Administrative Tribunals Act (ATA) applied to CRT decisions. The amendments in Bill 21 mean that the standard of review is now set out in the CRTA itself. However, much of the new CRTA language is very similar to that of the ATA. This means the standard of review stays substantively the same for other areas of the CRT’s jurisdiction, including small claims and vehicle accident claims.

The Bill 21 amendments affect all applications for judicial review, whether the applications were made before or after the amendments came into effect.

See the amended version of the Civil Resolution Tribunal Act.