Leslie Grauer doesn’t bother disputing the strata fines for her smoking.

The Vancouver townhouse owner simply pays the charges.

And then she continues to light up inside her home.

As the strata corporation cannot stop her smoking with fines, it decided to file a claim before the Civil Resolution Tribunal.

The strata sought an order to prohibit her from puffing away in her lot, and it got one.

CRT member Leah Volkers has ordered Grauer to follow the strata’s no-smoking bylaw.

“The strata has already tried to enforce its non-smoking bylaw by fining Ms. Grauer repeatedly and without success,” Volkers wrote in her March 22, 2022 reasons for decision.

The Vancouver strata corporation is composed of six townhouses.

Complaints against Grauer’s smoking date back to 2014.

In 2018 and 2020, the strata adopted new bylaws banning smoking in all areas of the complex, including inside the residences.

The strata fined Grauer repeatedly between 2018 and 2021.

“The strata says Ms. Grauer does not dispute the fines, and pays them,” Volkers related.

And “even with the substantial fines”, the property owner continued to smoke.

“The strata says she is ‘essentially paying for her right to smoke’,” Volkers noted.

In response to the claim before the CRT, Grauer stated that the strata’s bylaw is “too restrictive for accommodation”.

Moreover, she “doubts” whether strata lots other than the ones near hers are affected.

She does not deny smoking.

As well, Grauer said that she “also attempted to fix walls and add a fan”.

In her reasons for decision, Volkers determined that the strata’s no-smoking bylaw is binding upon the woman.

Hence, Grauer has to comply and stop smoking in her strata lot.