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NEWS phat Hol Lucente

JACK AND Amy Hachfeld enjoy a West Coast sunset off the pier at Ambleside Landing
in West Vancouver. The weather outlook is for more sunny days and warm weather.

$2.3M in damages destined for Cedarbrooke Village residents

maintenance costs.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has determined the liability
for damages in three test cases of 48 suits involving a total
settlement of about $2.3 million for Cedarbrooke Village
cooperative apartment and townhouse owners.

Damages in connection with the
court battle over the North Van-
couver apartment were originally
assessed in March 1990.

In July 1991, the B.C. Court of
Appeal dramatically increased the
damages awarded to threc of the
owners involved in a legal battle
launched by Cedarbrooke
residents to recover some of the
$8 million they had spent to pur-
chase the co-op, which is located

By Michael Becker
News Reporter

near the northeast corner of the
Upper Levels Highway just off
Westview Drive, and avoid rent
increases of more than 3,000% in
1990.

The increase in rent indicated
an economic disaster for most

owners, many of whom were
senior citizens on fixed incomes.

The Cedarbrcoke lease was not
prepaid, but instead was subject
to a variation every 22 years based
on assessed property value.

In one of his reasons for judg-
ment in the case, Mr. Justice R.R.
Holmes called the lease ‘‘extreme-
ly unusual if not unique in the
residential real estate market.”

The 48 suits claimed more than
$3 million from a group of law-
yers, real estate agents, developers
and ins:zrance companies.

plaintiff Kathryn Rieger bought
her unit in 1983 and was unaware
of che rent revision provision con-
tained in the head lease.

At the time she signed an in-
terim agreement to buy a unit at
Cedarbrooke, Rieger was aware
that:

* Cedarbrooke was a cooperative
venture on leased Jand;

* the lease had an unexpired term
of about 50 years;

*upon lease expiry the owner
would have no further interest;

® rent was payable on the lease;
*each unit paid a proportion of
the rent contained within monthly

Holmes dismissed the action
against listing real estate agents
Terry Sadler, Cliff Sadler and
Crest Realty Ltd., finding the
agents ‘‘owed no contractual or
direct duty to the plaintiff.”

But selling real estate agent
John Roberts and Montreal Trust
Co. were found liable to the
plaintiff.

Said Holmes, ‘The defendant
Roberts, though well-meaning,
failed to comprehend the need for
basic and accurate information in
order to advise the plaintiff pro-

See Plaintiffs page 2