A tribunal has refused a claim to cancel strata fines against a professional violinist who lives in a Downtown Vancouver highrise.

The development's strata council imposed two $200 penalties on Joanna Lee over noise complaints from a resident below her condo unit.

“Ms. Lee is a professional violinist who is also a PhD candidate in performance violin at the University of British Columbia,” B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal member Eric Regehr related in reasons for decision dismissing the woman’s claim.

The first fine was in connection with a complaint that the woman “played the violin loudly” on March 29, 2020.

The second fine was related to her two dogs that were “barking non stop for many hours” on August 10, 2020.

Both complaints were made by a resident whom the tribunal identified only as JD.

“Ms. Lee says that the strata has repeatedly and falsely accused her of violating the strata’s noise bylaw, which she considers harassment,” Regehr wrote.

In upholding the fines, the tribunal member wrote that the strata council followed the requirements set by the Strata Property Act before it imposed the penalties.

“In general, she denied that the noise was unreasonable because it was the sort of noise that everyone experiences in strata living,” Regehr noted.

In addition to cancelling the fines, Lee also asked the tribunal for two other orders.

She also sought $3,000 for “extra tuition” because the strata’s actions “wasted considerable time and caused a deterioration of her mental and physical health”.

As a result, Lee claimed that she had to extend her schooling.

Lee likewise wanted an order from the tribunal “granting her unlimited access to the strata’s amenity room and meeting room (common rooms), despite a strata rule limiting residents’ use”.

Regehr granted neither to Lee.

Regehr noted that JD has made several noise complaints against Lee.

However, the strata only “took enforcement action on a small proportion” of the complaints.

While Regehr accepted that Lee had to “spend time responding to the complaints”, the tribunal member wrote that this is “part of living in a strata setting, where disputes between residents are common”.

“So, I find that it was not unduly burdensome or harsh of the strata to inform Ms. Lee of the complaints against her,” Regehr wrote. “I dismiss her claim for $3,000 in increased tuition.”

The tribunal member also ruled that the strata’s decision to limit the use of the common rooms was “not significantly unfair”.

“The strata says that it passed rules about the common rooms in response to complaints that the same people were always using them,” Regehr wrote.

Regehr noted that before this change, Lee “regularly used the common rooms to practice violin”.