Moving a Kitchen Sink or Dishwasher in a Vancouver Condo: Strata Approval

Which bylaw items the job touches

A sink move can touch three items of Standard Bylaw 5(1), plus Bylaw 6.

Item (g) applies to the sink and tap. Section 9.1(1) of the Strata Property Regulation names plumbing fixtures as fixtures, and Standard Bylaw 5(1)(g) requires written approval to alter the fixtures the original developer installed. Original cabinets and counters that are cut or replaced to take the sink are attached to the building too.

A dishwasher is treated differently. Section 9.1(1) leaves dishwashers out of the meaning of fixtures if they can be removed without damage to the building. Replacing one in the same place is therefore outside item (g). Moving one, or adding one where none stood, needs a water line, a drain connection and a power supply, and those bring the other items in.

Which pipes belong to the building

The Strata Property Act's definition of common property has two tests for pipes. A pipe is common property when it sits inside a wall, floor or ceiling that forms a boundary of the unit. A pipe inside the unit is also common property when it is capable of being used, and intended to be used, by another unit or the common property.

Apply those tests in a kitchen. A vertical drain that carries waste from the units above meets the second test. So does a water pipe that feeds other floors. The short pipes that run from them to your sink, inside your own cabinets and interior walls, serve your unit alone and fall outside both tests, so they are part of your unit.

A new sink position still ends at a building pipe. If the work makes a new connection to a shared drain or water pipe, or changes the existing connection, it alters common property. That part of the request is decided under Bylaw 6. Bylaw 5(2) says the strata must not unreasonably withhold its approval, and Bylaw 6 has no matching sentence. A sink that moves along the same wall and keeps its existing connection points keeps the request under Bylaw 5.

The strata holds drawings that help. Section 20(2)(a) of the Act required the developer to give the strata the building permit plans, and any document it held showing the actual location of a pipe that it had reason to believe was placed differently from the plans. Section 4.1(7) of the regulation makes the strata keep those records permanently, and section 36 of the Act gives an owner copies within 2 weeks of a request.

Cutting or coring concrete is work on the structure

A sink on an island, or one moved a long way from the old position, may need a drain under the floor. In a concrete building that means cutting a channel in the floor or drilling a round hole through it, which the trade calls coring. Both are alterations that involve the structure of the building under Standard Bylaw 5(1)(a).

The boundary matters here too. Under section 68(1) the unit ends midway through the structural floor. A hole drilled all the way through comes out in the ceiling of the unit below, beyond your boundary. State this plainly in the request, and ask the strata how the owner below will be told.

Before any cut is marked, we have the floor scanned to locate steel, wires and pipes inside the concrete, and we attach the result to the request.

Cutting concrete releases silica dust. WorkSafeBC says cutting, drilling or grinding concrete releases the dust, and that it can cause silicosis, a lung disease, and lung cancer. Ask your contractor how the dust will be captured at the tool.

Shutting off the water

Changing a water line needs the water off. If your unit has its own shut-off valves and they work, the water to the rest of the building stays on. If the work needs a valve that also supplies other units, that valve is on a common pipe. Section 3 of the Act makes the strata corporation responsible for managing the common property, so closing that valve is arranged through the strata.

Ask the strata manager in writing who may close the valve, how much notice the other owners need, which hours are allowed, and whether the building's own plumber must do it. Standard Bylaw 3(1) forbids using a unit in a way that unreasonably interferes with the rights of other persons to use and enjoy their units, so arrange every shut-off through the strata before the day of the work.

What to put in the request

Give the pipes their own heading in the request. Include:

Ask the City of Vancouver whether the plumbing work needs a permit, and ask the strata whether it wants a copy.

• The old and new positions of the sink and the dishwasher, marked on a floor plan.
• Each pipe the work touches, where it connects, and whether that pipe serves other units.
• Any cutting or coring of concrete: the place, the size and the depth, with the scan of the floor.
• The water shut-off the work needs, with the date and the length of time you are asking for.
• The plumber's name and the contractor documents your building lists.
• A sentence stating which pipes and which parts of the kitchen stay as they are.

Who repairs the pipes later

Under Standard Bylaw 2(1) the owner repairs the unit. That includes the sink, the tap and the new pipes that serve only your kitchen and run inside your own walls and cabinets. The strata repairs common property under Standard Bylaw 8(b) and section 72(1) of the Act, which covers the shared drain and water pipes.

Be exact about the point where the two meet. If the strata asks for an agreement under Bylaw 5(2) or 6(2), you take responsibility for expenses relating to the alteration. Ask the strata to state in writing who repairs the new connection to the shared pipe.

A leak can cost more than its repair. Section 158(2) of the Act lets a strata sue an owner for the deductible on its insurance claim, the part of a claim the insurer leaves the strata to pay, when the owner is responsible for the damage.

How we move a sink in a condo

We look inside the sink cabinet and at the building's drawings to find where the drain and water pipes run and which of them serve other units. Then we check whether the new position can reach the existing connection points with pipes that stay inside the unit's own cabinets and walls. When it can, the request stays under Bylaw 5.

Before any wall or cabinet is closed, we fill the new water lines under pressure and run water through the new drain to check for leaks. We photograph the pipes for the owner's file, and the strata can have the same photographs.