Legal

May 15, 2025 Published by British Columbia Chapter - By Lisa Frey

Power and Limitations of the Use of AI in Strata Law

From CCI BC Strata Connection Magazine, Volume 04, Spring/Summer 2025

In a recent CRT decision (Geismayr v. The Owners, Strata Plan KAS 1970), a couple applied to the Civil Resolution Tribunal for relief regarding unauthorized alterations to their hotel strata lot. The case involved the unapproved installation of a loft, which the claimants had known about prior to purchasing the unit. The strata refused to retroactively approve the alteration, and demanded its removal; the claimants sought an order that the strata corporation had acted with significant unfairness.

There was nothing particularly unusual about the facts of this case; however, what was unusual was that nine of the 10 cases, presented by the couple in their submissions, simply did not exist. The remaining case (a well known case in the strata community), known as “The Owners, Strata Plan LMS 2768 v. Jordison (2013)”, had three court decisions published in 2013; however, none of these were related to unauthorized alterations. The source of these cases was listed by the claimants as a “conversation with Copilot”, which is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot.

The arbitrator wrote, “I find it likely that these cases are “hallucinations” where artificial intelligence generates false or misleading results.” Needless to say, the arbitrator dismissed the Geismayrs’ claims.

On one hand, this case is a cautionary tale. Current AI tools available to the public struggle, in particular, with references to legislation and cases. Because AI is trained on large data sets, the more specific the legislation and cases are to BC, the more likely that AI will not have encountered sufficient data to answer the question correctly - or that it will blend together cases or laws from other jurisdictions. Furthermore, old versions of laws, and decisions overturned by higher courts, are often archived online, making it even more difficult for the AI to distinguish what is currently applicable. Worse, perhaps, for the couple, the false sense of confidence given to them by the AI made them end their search. If there were any actual, real life favourable cases out there – the couple missed their chance to present them to the arbitrator.

On the other hand, this case illustrates the extreme power that AI can have to improve access to justice. The legal system, at present, is very financially burdensome to access. This is especially true in the realm of strata law, in which the dollar amounts of most disputes tend to be relatively low, but the impact upon peoples’ lives and emotions is often very high. To the extent AI can offer strata councils, and strata owners, better access to information and tools, it could potentially improve the lives of the many thousands of British Columbians who live in Stratas.

At a minimum, if you are going to use AI to help you start your legal search, here are a few tips:

• Check every statutory reference to make sure the section exists, is current, and actually applies to your circumstances. Most pieces of relevant legislation can be looked up on CanLII https://www.canlii.org/bc
• Access and read each case for relevancy.
• Take everything with a grain of salt. AI answers are often confident-sounding but may lack information about uncertainty. Human experts often incorporate important words and phrases which convey an appropriate level of caution or qualification. AI omits these words because they make sentences “wordier”, but they are often critical to our decision-making.
• Where feasible, run your conclusions by a human expert (lawyer, property manager, engineer, etc). This may not be necessary if the stakes are low and you are just looking for a quick answer. However, if the stakes are higher, reach out to an appropriate expert. For example, many strata lawyers offer a variety of different types of consultations and support, including legal reviews of AI-assisted CRT submissions.

The irony is not lost on me that the commonly used acronym for “Large Language Model”, which is the type of AI technology that is revolutionizing society at the moment, is the same as for the “Master of Laws”, which is the advanced degree for lawyers.

Are we ready to trade in one LLM for the other LLM?

Clearly, at least for the moment—a chatbot does not replace the value of experienced legal advice. However, most lawyers are realizing that if we as a profession do not capitalize on the efficiency, power, and cost-savings of AI, we will soon be left behind. We are actively working on incorporating AI into our practice to take advantage of, rather than compete with, these tools. Hopefully, this will lead to more affordable and timely access to dispute resolution for strata councils and owners alike.

Lisa Frey, Partner at Lawson Lundell LLP

Lisa is a lawyer whose practice focuses on commercial real estate and condominium law. She has considerable experience in various strata corporation matters, such as drafting bylaws, policies and resolutions, and providing practical advice to numerous condominium owner, section and strata corporation clients.