Shadowing Practice: Strata Conflicts and How to Prevent Them - Learn English Speaking with Video

without further ado let's get this going

so my name is chris stepchuk i'm the ceo

and managing broker of fort park property management and real estate uh mission

and vision so this is basically what we do uh

so our vision is fort park helps improve strata living through practical guidance

and care and care being an acronym for customer uh centric communication accountable team players

responsive and respectful leadership and enthusiastic to add value to our customers

who are you guys and and i do appreciate you taking time out of your busy days today to join us

for this i i know everyone's got lots on the go especially if you're on strata council so

uh our mission is we guide property owners through the challenges of strata living through honest communication

and expert advice to help maintain the long -term value of your homes.

So we're going to probably skip over this little part here,

but today basically we're going to be talking about 11 conflict areas that every council should have a plan for.

so uh and there's many more sources of conflict

but inevitably in a strata owners are living together in a community

and anytime you bring people together with different interests and backgrounds

and wants and needs you're going to have some form of conflict

and sometimes the conflict can be problematic

and sometimes it can be resolved very easily

so we're going to be talking about kind of the things we see popping up most often

and how we deal with it.

So parking is number one.

This can be a huge source of conflict.

And one of the most frequent sources, I would say, especially when it's designated common property and there aren't enough stalls to go around.

So if your property was built prior to, I don't know, 2010 or maybe kind of the mid 2000s,

it was probably common property.

More recently, they've been designated as limited common property, which makes it easier because it runs with the title, you get your stall, it's limited to you.

But where it's common property, it can be reallocated by the strata council on a short -term basis, so usually every year.

And it's very often done based on how many cars people have

or how much space how many bedrooms there's different formulas

that councils will use it can be problematic especially

when there's not enough to go around one of the ways

we've been able to see owners have been able to deal with this is designating it as limited common property

so changing it from common to limited common there's usually a

bit of disagreement in terms of how that's going to lay out

but once it's done it's done and it does require a three quarter voted the owners to do that.

Visitor parking is another one we see popping up every now and again.

Visitor stalls, generally speaking, are pretty limited.

Generally, the developers aren't making money on the visitor parking stalls.

They're making money on the units they sell.

So they're not going to have too many of those if not necessary.

So owners with second vehicle or long -term guests can sometimes chew them up and that causes issues.

How we've seen it successfully dealt with is setting clear written visitor parking rules.

So make it very unambiguous and

whether that rule is time limits in terms of how long you can park there or who exactly can park there.

Maybe the occupants of the household aren't allowed to park there for more than half an hour or something like that.

So it really is a visitor thing.

You can issue guest passes for owners to use.

This is really helpful.

So usage can be tracked and enforced properly.

Another big one here is noise complaints.

So especially in wood frame, low rises,

less often in townhouse complexes where there's a little bit of separation

and less often in concrete buildings as well

but we still see you know a lot of noise complaints

in those those buildings um it just depends on the construction

and the makeup of it so how you can deal with that well you can set clear, quiet hour bylaws that mirror the municipal bylaws.

to avoid confusion.

So if the municipal bylaws say, you know, no noise after 10 and your bylaws say no noise after 11, that can be a little bit of an issue.

So try and try and mirror them where you can, where it makes sense.

Set a very objective decibel level rather than a subjective, it's just too loud, right?

I mean, what's too loud to one person might be not loud enough to another person,

right so make that a little bit more objective um restrict your laundry hours

if you have common laundry facilities uh define flooring underlay requirements in your bylaws

if people are switching from carpet to to you know hardwood

or laminate or vinyl plank seems to be the most popular right now uh

and then be prepared to hire a sound engineer if noise is an ongoing problem I mean, you can put that right in your budget.

I've seen lots of CRT cases where the CRT is requesting that,

you know, based on a noise complaint that a sound engineer is brought out

and they can test the decibel levels and then you can properly address it.

It sounds like a lot of overkill, but, I mean, we've got cases where these sound complaints have been going on for years and years and years.

And it really is the only way to get to the root of the problem.

And then they can come up with suggestions in terms of how you can deaden some of the sound.

Maybe it's putting insulation in between the joists or something to that effect.

Smoking.

Smoking is another big one.

This can be a really, really big source of conflict.

You know, smoke drifting from balconies, patios, lawns can be very irritating for non -smokers.

When you add children into the mix, it can make it even, you know, heightened emotions can come to the forefront.

So I think having very clear,

concise bylaws, such as no smoking on common areas or limited common areas within a certain distance of the building,

things like that, you may want to consider banning smoking entirely in the strata lots.

that is a very common thing we're seeing more

and more stratus doing and if you're going to do

that though we generally recommend adding in grandfather clauses

if there are existing smokers in the building so

that a you can get the bylaw passed

and b it just avoids more conflict and we've seen that

that is usually a lot more successful than just trying to outright ban it

and then when new owners or new tenants come into the unit then they would have to follow the new bylaws

uh next one we've got is pets

so barking dogs owners not cleaning up after pets those are very common complaints um maybe a

dog you know by biting at an owner we've seen

that in in uh buildings and things like that so So I think that how you can deal with that particularly,

so have very clearly defined pet bylaws, covering behavior, cleanup expectations, things like that,

what the process is for fining if owners are non -compliant.

And then we've seen a lot of bylaws sometimes have breed restrictions for pets.

That tends to create a lot of issues very often um size guidelines are generally a little bit more

if you're going to be restricting based on certain things size

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guidelines might be better although you know what small dog can be yappier than a big dog right

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so it really depends what you're trying to solve with your pet bylaws

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but the more concise you can be about it i think the better

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uh challenging owners so this is one

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that um i think is a um a really really difficult one

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and and it can be very vague right what is a challenging owner well

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if you're in a building

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that has a challenging owner you probably know what a challenging owner is uh there's usually one

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or two in every building they can make council's job very very difficult

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maybe that's just a lot of frivolous complaints maybe just can't seem to play nicely with others

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there can be all sorts of different possibilities

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but how do you deal with

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that as a council it can become very daunting especially

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if you're self -managed and you don't have a third party intermediary in between.

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So here's a couple things, a couple tips that kind of help require complaints to be submitted in writing.

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Keep it as formal as possible and keep it so

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that it's not just as simple as picking up the phone and someone calling in a complaint.

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Review complaints only at scheduled meetings.

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So if you're getting complaints from a certain owner, like daily, like we've seen certain owners do, you can just say, you know, have an automated response months,

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we've received your inquiry or your complaint, and it will be dealt with at the next scheduled meeting, which meetings are held every three months,

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and decisions will be noted in the minutes.

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So that's a way of not clogging up your inboxes

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and driving yourself absolutely batty if you end up with one of these type situations.

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Follow a clear and consistent complaint resolution process.

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You know, we recommend that you follow kind of the section 135 five in the strata act

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and make it very clear so and note that in the minutes

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so owners are very aware of what the process is and

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when they'll be responded to record all decisions in the minutes

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you want to record you know it doesn't have to be ultra detailed

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but the decisions should still be noted in there

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and then funnel the complaints through your management

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if you're using a uh management company

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or um legal counsel uh is very often recommended

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and i hear this a lot well we don't want to

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have to pay for a lawyer to do these things well

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you know at the end of the day it's it's a budget item

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and having legal counsel is highly recommended

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and having a legal budget is highly recommended i think

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that um especially with what we're seeing right now with you know more

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and more owners sending in complaints that are obviously generated through ai

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and they look like legal documents but they're not really correct

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councils are having to deal with this kind of stuff more and more than ever before

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and you know where we've seen uh

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that kind of overwhelming council we generally would go out

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and recommend that they hire their own legal counsel that can then counterpoint any of these things that are coming in.

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So just something to keep in mind.

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I think AI, although it will probably create a lot of efficiencies and a lot of things for us,

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it will also create these kind of AI lawyers that are lurking out there right now.

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Leaks and water ingress.

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This is a huge source of issues and complaints and stratas.

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And it's a really difficult one

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because who is responsible is one of the most common questions that we get and councils get.

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And it's very, very difficult to sometimes ascertain who is responsible in the event of a leak

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that causes damage to three or four other units.

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And it's not always a cut and dry answer.

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There can be a lot of gray areas.

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So you also have a lot of stakeholders involved in these.

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So it can be restoration companies, multiple insurance companies, management companies.

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Sometimes you've got like a rental management company managing the unit

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you've got the strata management you might have tenants owners involved adjusters on both sides right

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or maybe if it's three or four units you have adjusters for all three

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or four units so they get very heated they get very finger pointy

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or they can you've got a lot of money sometimes involved

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so it's good to just kind of figure out a general

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process for these lay out clear procedures how disputes are resolved

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and budget for legal advice very often you're going to need to get a legal opinion

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if you're not you know generally speaking the insurers are going to be fairly good about guiding you through this

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but not always sometimes there's a disagreement.

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And then having very clear chargeback bylaws in place so

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that deductibles can be billed back to an owner when appropriate or repairs.

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You know, it's not uncommon in a situation where an owner's dishwasher leaks, it leaks down two or three floors, it causes

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a hundred thousand dollars in damage uh there's a 25 000

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or a fifty thousand dollar deductible in place

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and the owner doesn't have insurance and this is like happens all the time

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so now the strata either has to eat the fifty thousand dollar deductible

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or they have to go back to that owner who doesn't have insurance and get that money from them um which

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hopefully they have insurance, but if they don't, you need a good chargeback bylaws so that you can go back and charge them for it.

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Otherwise, the strata may be out the money.

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So that's a tricky one.

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Owner AR.

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So when owners owe money, can't pay, feelings can run really high and emotions can get heightened.

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Fingers get pointed very quickly in these situations.

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So what can you do about this um well i think number one is the special levies

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if you guys are anticipating special levies give plenty of notice

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a large runway is going to alleviate a lot of the concerns

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um so owners can budget accordingly you know minute everything right

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if you've got you know your podium coming up in two

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or three years uh put it in the minutes

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that podium is going to be coming up in two to

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three years you're estimating it's going to be a million dollars

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or whatever it might be bring it up at your AGM

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and just so owners aren't caught off guard you can even break

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that down for people this is what a million dollars is

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going to look like across 20 units it's going to be

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50 ,000 each on average keep the budgeting process very transparent

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if you can ideally you could even start saving through your your CRF and putting money aside for that specific thing,

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whether it's a podium or an elevator or a roof.

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And maintain a really well laid out five year capital plan.

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It's not hard to come up with one of these, especially if you've got a depreciation report that basically already does that for you.

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Make sure the depreciation report is talked about during council meetings, during AGMs.

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Make sure it's accessible to the owners through portal

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or however you've distributed that to the owners

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so they're just alleviating those surprises i think it's going to help people plan

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and it will help alleviate some of the ar and

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when i talk about ar it's more like uh you know not strategies necessarily

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but it's more like okay there's a twenty thousand dollar levy

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or a fifty thousand dollar levy or or you know we're going to see big, big, big levies over the next number of years now that these depreciation reports are mandatory.

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There's going to be a lot of that going on, and we're already seeing it.

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Common area maintenance.

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So requests like patio balcony, window repairs.

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So things that are common property, they're the responsibility of the strata corporation, but the strata might not

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have the money for patio repairs or the windows or things like

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that so they can create a lot of conflict um

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so just make sure you've set up a really clear process

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for maintenance requests forms plus an automated tracking system are strongly recommended update owners on a set cadence

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and tell them up front how often that will be um you know we recommend that Note every decision in the minutes.

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You know, again, the more transparency there is, the more people understand that their requests are being addressed,

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even if they're not going to be taken care of,

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that I think that just lessens the kind of conflict that you can see. And next one here. is communication.

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So a lot of these things can be taken care of through communication.

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So breakdown in communication between council and the owners is usually the source of most conflict in strata.

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And you could say not just in strata, but that would be in,

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you know, relationships, in business, in life. So define exactly when

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and how formal responses will be given whether it's through the portal through email uh forms

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or during council meetings whatever that process is just make sure it's clearly defined

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so people understand when they can expect to hear back on things document the process

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so that expectations are consistent and visible

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but the root of most conflict definitely is communication another one we've got here is short -term rentals

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so these can uh this is kind of a bonus one

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i threw in here um these can create a lot of of chaos

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when a home suddenly turns into a hotel

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and council isn't prepared for it if the owners are accepting of it

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and you've you know you allow short -term rentals and things like that

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it's usually fine but it's it's when things change suddenly and uh people aren't ready for it so

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if you're allowing them just make sure you're noting very clear bylaws

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or even rules they can be less formal and set formal expectations up front plan for the practical impact so

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this could lead to extra garbage more traffic parking you know

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fobs people doing you know losing fobs all the time not

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knowing where the garbage is supposed to go things like

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that you might need to budget for it a little bit

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and maybe you need a caretaker on site dealing with some of

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that um and if you're not allowing them make it also very clear

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and and i'd suggest writing a bylaw

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so the rule is unambiguous to every owner um you know you can put in a bylaw

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that allows you to fine up to a thousand dollars a night

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if you really don't want them and we would recommend that

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if you're if you don't want short -term rentals

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so the common thread here nearly every conflict on this list

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is prevented the same way with clear bylaws consistent process everything

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documented in the minutes i'd say write it down uh set the process

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and communicate early so set expectations for how and

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when owners will hear back when owners you know have a gripe about something

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and it just goes into the netherverse that's

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when people get really upset um so i would say

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that would probably uh about wrap it up for the the

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10 plus 1 uh sources of conflict how to deal with them uh now we're gonna

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What You'll Learn

This video is a goldmine for english speaking practice, helping you build two key skills: first, understanding conversational English in a professional context, like how speakers transition between topics and emphasize key points. Second, learning to parse complex ideas—like strata management conflicts—through clear, structured speech. These skills are perfect for learn english with videos because they mirror real-world communication, making you more confident in both listening and speaking.

Listen For These Sounds

Pay attention to connected speech and reductions that make the dialogue flow naturally. For example, "without further ado" often becomes "wɪð'aʊt 'fɜːðər ə'duː" with linked sounds between "without" and "further." You’ll also hear phrases like "kind of the things" where "kind of" reduces to "kɪndə" and links smoothly to "the." These small sound changes are crucial for understanding native speakers, so focus on how words blend rather than stand alone—an essential part of shadowing technique.

Say It Like a Native

To mirror the speaker’s rhythm and stress, practice shadowspeak by repeating short segments immediately after the video. Notice how the speaker stresses words like "huge source of conflict" (stressing "huge" and "conflict") to highlight importance. He also uses pauses before key points, like "so parking is number one," which gives the listener time to process. Mimic this pacing—slow down for emphasis, speed up for transitions—and focus on rising intonation when asking rhetorical questions, like "who exactly can park there?" This will make your speech sound more natural and engaging, just like a native.

By focusing on these elements, you’ll not only improve your English but also master the art of clear, confident communication—skills that matter in both personal and professional settings. Use the shadowing technique daily with this video, and you’ll see progress in no time!

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	they've been designated · we've been · we've seen
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	can be resolved · was built · they've been designated

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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What is the Shadowing Technique?