By Holly Popenia, Community Law Program Lawyer

Coop housing can be an excellent alternative to tradition ownership or renting. Coops are often a more affordable housing option than renting or owning. The built-in community in a coop can be a source of social satisfaction. But coop housing comes with the risk that problems with your coop may mean a termination of your membership and an eviction notice. What do you do if the coop tries to terminate your membership?

Please note, this guide does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied on for legal advice. Law and court practices can change without warning. If you are using our publications, you should check to make sure that they are up-to-date.

Why is my membership being terminated?

There are three main reasons why your membership could be terminated:

  1. Conduct Detrimental: This means you did something that was considered harmful to the coop or someone who lives in the coop.
  2. Breach of a Material Condition: This means you broke an important condition of your coop membership.
  3. Non-payment: This means you didn’t pay your coop rent, occupancy charges or other money due to the coop on-time, in full.

Your coop must make it clear in the coop rules how your membership could be terminated. The process is different depending on which reason your membership is being terminated.

Step One – Maybe?: Written Notice

The coop may be required to give you written notice of the problems with your membership, and give you a chance to fix those problems, before they can issue a notice to terminate your membership. You are entitled to written notice for:

  • Breach of a material condition
  • Non-payment

The coop is not required to give you written notice or a chance to fix the problem for conduct detrimental.

If you do get written notice of a problem, try to work with your coop to fix it right away. Don’t just ignore the problem.

Step Two: Board of Directors Meeting

If you do not fix your breach of the material condition or pay your fees within a reasonable time, or if you have been given notice for conduct detrimental, the coop will give you a notice that your coop’s Board of Directors is going to have a meeting to determine whether your membership should be terminated. In the notice, the coop should explain the reasons they believe your membership should be terminated.

Your coop will let you know at least 7 days before the meeting when/where it is going to be and invite you to attend and give your side of the story.

Can I go to the Directors meeting?

Yes. You are allowed to attend the Directors meeting to present your case. You can also bring along someone to help you with your case, including a lawyer, or you can send an agent or lawyer to appear on your behalf.

What do I do at the Directors meeting?

At the Directors meeting you will tell your side of the story. To prepare for the meeting, you should gather all the documents you have that support your side of the story to bring to the meeting. You can also prepare a written statement that you can read at the meeting or give to the Directors before the meeting so that they can read it in advance.

You want to be sure you say all the reasons why your membership should not be terminated. Make sure to address the reasons the Directors have given you for terminating your membership. You may have had many problems with your coop before you received the notice of your membership termination that you want to address at this Directors meeting. While all those problems may be serious, if you do not address what the Directors are saying about why they want to terminate your membership, you will risk losing your hearing.

How do the Directors make their decision?

The Directors will listen to your side of the story and then vote to decide if your membership should be terminated. In order for your membership to be terminated, 3/4 of the directors have to vote for termination.

When will I find out what the Directors decided?

The Directors must send you their decision in writing within 7 days of the meeting. If your membership is being terminated for non-payment, and you lose at the Directors meeting, the coop will send you the decision, along with instructions about how to appeal to the BC Supreme Court (see Step Four below).

Step Three: Appeal to the General Membership

If you lose at the Board of Directors meeting, you may have a chance to appeal to the general membership to stay in your coop. This step is only available if your membership is being terminated for conduct detrimental or breach of a material condition. If your membership is being terminated for non-payment, you will have to go straight to “Step Four: Appeal to the BC Supreme Court”.

How do I appeal to the General Membership?

You have 7 days from the date the Directors’ decision was delivered to you to appeal to the general membership. To start your appeal, simply write to the Board to notify them that you wish to appeal the Directors’ decision. The Board will then set up the meeting and let you know in writing when/where the meeting will take place.

Can I go to the General Membership Meeting?

Yes. Just like with the Directors meeting, you can go to the general membership meeting by yourself, with an agent or a lawyer, or have an agent or lawyer appear on your behalf.

What happens at the General Membership Meeting?

The general membership meeting is very similar to the Directors meeting, except this time, it is the members of the coop that will be voting. An appeal to the general membership is a bit like a popularity contest. That means, you are going to need all of your friends and supporters in the coop to come out and vote at the meeting.

First, the Board will say why they think your membership should be terminated. You will be given a chance to speak to say why your membership shouldn’t be terminated. As with the Directors meeting, you can tell your story and present documents and written submissions if you wish. Again, you should focus on what you have to say in response to the reasons the Directors are relying on to say your membership should be terminated.

How does the general membership make their decision?

After you and the Directors have presented your cases, the membership will vote on a resolution about whether your membership should be terminated. For breach of material condition, it is a regular resolution. For conduct detrimental, the membership will vote on a special resolution.

The amount of votes needed to terminate your membership may depend on what your coop’s rules say. The amount needs to be at least a majority, but can be more depending on the reason for your membership termination and the rules of your coop. Consult your coop’s rules to see the amount of votes needed in your situation.

When will I find out what the general membership decided?

The coop must promptly send you the decision of the general membership. If you lose, the coop will also include instructions on how to appeal your termination to the BC Supreme Court. Once the decision is delivered to you, your deadlines to appeal to the BC Supreme Court start running (see Step Four below).

Step Four: Appeal to the BC Supreme Court

Your last resort is to appeal to the BC Supreme Court. You might have reached this step by going through both the Directors and General Membership meetings if your membership is being terminated for conduct detrimental or material breach. If your membership is being terminated for non-payment, you will have reached this step after only the Directors meeting.

Get Legal Advice: An appeal to the court is complicated and we cannot tell you everything you need to know right now. You should get legal advice if you are planning on appealing to the court. We can only provide you with some very basic information to help you get the process started.

Deadlines

There are some important deadlines to keep in mind if you plan to appeal to the court.

10 days: After the coop sends you the decision of the general membership, you have 10 days to ask the coop to pay your court filing fees.

30 days: After the coop sends you the decision of the general membership or the Directors terminate your membership for non-payment of rent, you have 30 days to file your appeal with the BC Supreme Court.

Court Documents

To start an appeal at the BC Supreme Court, you must file two things:

  1. a Notice of Appeal – by filing the form Notice of Appeal if Directions Required; and
  2. an Application for an Order of Possession – by filing the form “Notice of Application”.

These forms can be found on the BC Supreme Court Forms website.

Grounds for Appeal

You can appeal your membership termination for one or more of the following reasons.

  1. the process the coop followed to terminate your membership was unfair;
  2. the coop’s decision is not reasonably supported by the facts; and
  3. the coop’s decision is not authorized by the Cooperative Association Act (s. 35).

You have to include one or more of these grounds in your Notice of Appeal form.

Application for Order of Possession

In your application for an order of possession, you will set out the facts and legal arguments that support your application to the court. Again, this is complicated. You should get legal advice about how to prepare your court documents.

Directions Hearing

The notice of appeal will ask you to pick a date to go in front of a judge “for directions as to the conduct of the appeal”. This just means that a judge will decide the process for how your appeal will happen. The judge will set out deadlines to get your appeal ready for hearing, like when each side has to file their evidence. The judge at the directions hearing will not decide whether you win or lose or whether your membership should be terminated.

What is going on with my membership this whole time?

Your membership continues as long as you are appealing your case. This includes the Directors and general membership meetings and after filing your appeal with the BC Supreme Court. You must make sure to file your appeals within the required deadlines in order for your membership to be in place as you appeal.

Where can I get help?

The resources available for people going through the membership termination process are very different depending on what stage you are in. Unfortunately, we are not aware of any organizations that offer free representation for people who are in the Directors or General Membership meeting stages of their appeals. CLAS can provide summary advice to anyone at these stages to better assist you in representing yourself.

Once you have a final decision from the coop that needs to be appealed to the BC Supreme Court, there are more options for representation. CLAS may be able to assist you with your BC Supreme Court Appeal. Contact us at 604-673-3112, toll-free 1-888-685-6222 or fill out our online form to see if we can help.