B.C. couple fined for using doorbell camera speaker to shout 'insults and profanity' at neighbours

FILE - a Ring doorbell camera is seen installed outside a home in Wolcott, Conn., on July 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)

Owners of a B.C. townhome caused a nuisance when they used the speaker feature on their doorbell camera to yell “profanity and insults” at their neighbours, the province’s civil resolution tribunal has ruled.

Hon Wing Chan and Hung Angela Cheung were disputing $900 in by-law fines for violating a bylaw against unreasonable noise, according to a decision in the case posted online Friday.  In B.C. the common assets of condos and townhouse complexes are owned by a strata corporation and managed by a strata council, which sets out bylaws. 

“Most of the fines at issue in this dispute are about noise coming from the owners’ doorbell,” wrote tribunal member Alison Wake.

“Specifically, the strata says that the owners are using their doorbell to project their voices throughout the strata’s common areas, including yelling at other strata lot owners and using inappropriate language.”

Chan and Cheung were fined 18 times, $50 for each alleged violation.

The strata’s noise bylaw says noise becomes unreasonable and causes a nuisance when it interferes with other people’s use and enjoyment of their property.

“To meet this standard, the noise must be intolerable to an ordinary person,” the decision explains.

“Whether a noise constitutes a nuisance depends on factors such as its nature, intensity, frequency, duration, and timing.”

Chan and Cheung did not dispute that they used the speaker or intercom feature of their Ring camera. Instead they argued, in part, that the strata had no grounds to fine them for the noise because it was made within the confines of their home and not in a common area.

Further, they told the tribunal that the volume of the noise was low and it would not project into the common area and therefore would not disturb other residents.

The tribunal disagreed after reviewing video evidence which showed the noise was audible from across the street and the shouting often happened around 10 or 11 p.m.

“I find that the noises leading to the complaints and fines at issue in this dispute were excessive and amounted to more than mere inconvenience,” Wake wrote.

“I say this based on the frequency of these occurrences, the use of profanity and insults, the intensity of the outbursts, and the fact that that they often occur at night. I find that an ordinary person would find these noises intolerable.”

The tribunal did order that two of the $50 bylaw fines be cancelled because the proper process for imposing them was not followed. For the same reason, it denied the strata’s claim for an additional $850 in fines. Wake also declined to grant an order that would require the owners to remove their doorbell cam. The camera itself, she said, was not prohibited by the strata bylaws.

An order was granted specifically directing Cham and Cheung to comply with the strata’s bylaw prohibiting unreasonable noise, which Wake said was justified “given the volume of incidents in this dispute.”