Pest infestations must be taken seriously by the strata corporation and the strata council. If an owner, tenant or occupant can be determined to have caused the infestation, the strata corporation can always proceed against the owner to recover the claim. Unfortunately communities tend to spend valuable time debating the cause, when their first course of action should be to contact a pest control company to address the problem immediately. Rats in a building system can cause a horrendous amount of damage in a very short period of time. Electrical systems, mechanical, plumbing, insulation, and ventilation systems are all at risk, and the costs can be uncontrollable if the infestation is left unchecked. In addition to the bylaws of the strata corporation, the Strata Property Act also provides a provision for the strata corporation to do whatever is reasonably necessary to remedy a contravention of its bylaws or rules, including doing work on a strata lot , the common property, or common assets, and recovering the reasonable costs of remedying the contravention. In addition to the standard bylaw, it is beneficial for the strata corporation have bylaws that address items such as damages that relate to property damages or loss due to negligence of maintenance of a strata lot, or the actions of an owner, tenant or occupant that result in a loss or expense to the corporation. It is crucial for a strata corporation to address an infestation as soon as possible to eliminate the pests before the spread can cause damage to property and risk to health and safety. Strata corporations should also seriously consider the control or restriction of seed based bird feeders, the feeding of animals, and composters if those areas are likely attracting pests. Vigilant maintenance of garbage and recycling rooms, and immediate clean up of pet waste on the grounds, are also critical. Pests can range from silver fish and cockroaches to bears and deer in the province, and the duty is as much ours to be responsible to maintain our living environment to avoid attracting animals, as well as maintaining a pest control program as part of our annual building maintenance and operations, for the benefit of protecting our investments, our families and our pets. If an owner was responsible, you will know soon enough and the strata can elect to proceed with an action to recover the costs. pests pests pests go green pest control delta pest control tsawwassen pest control ladner pest control randy bilesky