Townhouse owner’s ‘catio’ can stay despite breaching strata bylaws, B.C. tribunal rules

A cat stretches inside a "catio" enclosure in a stock image.

A B.C. townhouse owner’s “catio” can stay despite breaching strata bylaws and irking at least one neighbour, the province’s online tribunal has ruled.

The structure’s name is “a portmanteau of the words cat and patio,” Civil Resolution Tribunal member David Jiang explained in a decision last week, adding that it consists of a wood frame, plastic roof and mesh siding.

“The catio encloses a patio and prevents cats from escaping,” Jiang wrote.

The tribunal heard a cat owner living in a 27-unit townhouse complex commissioned the structure from a company called Catabitat Contracting and Construction back in fall 2023—and that it drew a strata complaint from a neighbour shortly after it was installed.

When the strata council refused to take action against the catio, the neighbour brought his grievance to the tribunal, which has jurisdiction over most strata disputes in B.C.

His argument focused on a strata bylaw requiring the townhouse residents to get consent from all owners through a special resolution before making certain alterations, including to their patio areas.

The catio owner had only asked for—and was granted—permission to install the enclosure via an email to the strata council, according to the decision.

Jiang said the catio in question is pressure-fitted, meaning it’s not attached to the townhouse exterior using fasteners, bolts or any other attachments—but noted that installing the roof did require Catabitat to “realign the gutter and gutter drain.”

“I find the catio is an alteration under the bylaws because it involved altering common property,” Jiang wrote. “What remains is what to do about the breach”

The tribunal member found the violation was not “trifling or trivial in nature,” but also that it would be unfair to the catio owner to order the structure be removed.

Records indicate the strata hasn’t historically required residents to obtain consent from each other through special resolutions for patio and backyard alterations, Jiang found, adding that four other units have been allowed to install pet fences that are “similar in nature to the catio.”

“I find that the strata created a situation where (the cat owner) had a reasonable expectation that the strata would allow them to keep the catio after they had approved it,” Jiang wrote.

Crucially, the tribunal member also found the catio—which the strata contended was only visible from two other patios and a narrow strip of lawn—does not “directly interfere with or disrupt other residents.”

“I find that it would be significantly unfair for the strata to remove the catio,” he added.

While the neighbour’s complaint was unsuccessful, the strata can’t charge him for dispute-related expenses under the province’s Strata Property Act, according to the decision.