Getting Started with d'Corize Now & Understanding Your Strata Basics
A Must-Read Guide for Building a Strong, Informed Community and a Solid Foundation for Our Shared Success
Neighbors and Fellow Owners,
We are your neighbors, fellow owners, and residents, working together for a better community. Our goal is to move from a culture of crisis management to a culture of excellence, creating value and restoring stability in our building.
We’ve been thrilled by the engagement on our first two posts—it truly shows how invested we all are in our shared home. Remember: This is our community platform. It is a space for empowerment. We want you to feel confident, ask challenging questions, and demand the answers we all deserve.
Our immediate focus is on building an honest, solid foundation by addressing critical past issues head-on. Today’s update focuses on Getting Started with d’Corize Now & Understanding Your Strata Basics.
Understanding Your Strata Corporation & Your Rights
Living in a strata (condo building) involves shared ownership and collective responsibilities governed by British Columbia’s Strata Property Act (SPA). Your individual participation is what makes us strong as a community.
Strata Council’s Duty: Under the B.C. Strata Property Act, strata council members are the elected representatives of the owners and must always act honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of the strata corporation. Strata agents, on the other hand, are third-party professionals hired by the council to perform delegated administrative functions, but they have no inherent legal power to unilaterally tell owners what to do. From a legal perspective, a strata agent is a contractor to the strata, much like a plumber, janitor, or electrician, and must operate under the direction of the council.
That is not what is happening here at d’Corize: The three individuals—Rob Athwal, Gagan Klair, and Alexey Mazilenko—along with their agent, Elena Vinarskaia of Pacific Quorum Properties Inc., knowingly and deliberately operate as a crime syndicate, and intentionally premeditated and orchestrated a hijacking of the strata’s governance on October 30, 2025.
It is also important to acknowledge that some strata agents are amazing individuals who bring significant value to their clients and should be industry examples. Unfortunately, the industry as a whole is also plagued by a significant number of instances of incompetence, a lack of value delivered to customers, and other issues that owners frequently raise with bodies like the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA). Regrettably, there are too many cases of the “Elena Vinarskaia” and/or “Pacific Quorum Properties Inc.” syndrome, and even more so that are unreported and unaddressed, ultimately causing a widespread infestation among the approximately 34,000 strata corporations in British Columbia (approximately 778,000 active strata lots and an estimated 1.5 million people living in strata housing, including owners, residents, and tenants).
Your Rights (SPA s.34.1 & s.36): Owners have the fundamental right to access and inspect essential strata records, including:
Books of account showing money received and spent, or otherwise known as full financial statements (s.35(1)(d)).
Written contracts to which the strata corporation is a party (s.35(2)(g)).
Bank statements, cancelled cheques, and certificates of deposit (s.35(2)(l)).
All correspondence sent or received by the strata corporation and council, including all records and proxies related to any General Meeting (s.35(2)(k)).
There is no lawful excuse for the council or the strata agent to not comply with these access requirements. Furthermore, Strata Property Regulation (SPR) s.4.2 (2) explicitly stipulates that: “No fee may be charged to an owner, a tenant or a person authorized by an owner or tenant for the inspection of a record or document under section 36 of the Act.” For clarity: Neither the strata council, nor its agent are permitted to charge any fee either directly to the requesting party or indirectly by charging the strata corporation.
Owner Empowerment (SPA s.43): When the council fails to perform its duties, owners are empowered by SPA s.43 to requisition a special general meeting (SGM) with a petition of 20% of the owners. The council has four weeks to hold the meeting; if they do not, the owners who signed the demand can call the meeting themselves. This right is non-negotiable.
Protection Against Abuse (SPA s.108, s.147, s.164, s.165):
S.147 (Assignment of Powers and Duties to Tenant): This section empowers owners to formally delegate their powers and duties to individuals they wholeheartedly trust and know to be good stewards of their interests. The strata corporation has no say in this matter, and any interference is a grave violation of owners’ rights and is illegal. This right to assign powers applies directly to s.28(1) (Who May Be Council Members), as it broadens who can be involved in governance when the owner chooses to delegate.
S.164 is there to prevent council’s abuses and allows an owner or tenant to apply to the court for an order if they believe they have been treated unfairly.
S.165 can legally force a rogue council to stop contravening the Act.
Financial Accountability & The Events of the October 30, 2025 AGM
It is with this commitment to a strong foundation that we must address the significant irregularities and organized fraud that entirely compromised the integrity of our Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on October 30, 2025, and the handling of our finances.
Strata Property Act S.108 is explicit, mandatory, and non-negotiable regarding the collection and management of owners’ funds. It is there to protect us.
S.108(3) (Requirements for Funds): This section outlines the strict requirements for collecting any funds beyond regular strata fees. Violation of these requirements is outright fraud (SPA S.108(3)(a)).
S.108(4) (Segregation of Funds): The Act mandates the proper segregation and accounting for these funds to ensure they are used only for their intended purpose.
S.108(5) (Owner Control): This section underscores the inescapable obligation that these are owners’ funds, and no one (council or agent) has any say in how they are managed outside of the Act’s provisions. Wrongfully converting and misappropriating these funds to illegally subsidize operational expenditures (actual deficits) while falsely claiming no increases in strata fees to the ownership is illegal.
Breaching these provisions is a grave violation by the council of their fiduciary duties and the trust placed in them under s.31 and s.164, as well as by any licensed professional (strata agent) involved (a violation of their professional code of conduct under RESA s.35).
What is currently happening within our strata corporation’s accounting, balance sheets, and budgets appears to be nothing short of thoroughly illegal practices and documented criminal acts that started with, but were not limited to, the fraudulent collection of $260,000.
Gagan Klair, Alexey Mazilenko, Rob Athwal, and their agent, Elena Vinarskaia, have engaged in a pattern of fraudulent activities for years. We have all been unknowingly bankrolling operations marked by corruption and incompetence, while our building remains perpetually dirty and decaying.
When our money is taken through illicit means, what is truly stolen is our time and resources—time we could have spent with loved ones or on other worthy causes. This is an abuse of trust and a profound lack of respect for fellow owners and neighbors.
Democracy is about choices. It is not about theft. Stealing one’s right to make their own choice is a criminal act and an egregious violation of our human rights. The AGM of October 30, 2025, represented a complete subversion of our rights.
The fraud was clearly captured by multiple data, video, and audio recordings of the meeting and witnessed by almost 50 people. The individuals named above orchestrated the hijacking of the strata’s governance using close to 75 fabricated proxies to silence legitimate owner voices. They fabricated proxies that were never given to them in the first place! The meeting was further compromised by unverified “voters” and the systemic error in the administration of the vote during the entire election process which resulted in not a single candidate being elected, and as such currently there is no lawfully elected strata council at d’Corize.
This premeditated act, which their lawyer, Maris Holmes, appears to have certified and actively participated in, has left over 170 owners held hostage by an illegitimate council.
Connect With Us
Many of you are new to Substack, and we want to ensure you know how easy it is to reach us and stay updated. Your engagement is amazing, and we welcome your input.
You can also connect with us via:
Email: by simply replying to any of our emails/posts (your email gets straight to us).
Substack: substack.com/@dCorizeNowTeam (just clicking and/or bookmarking this link will always get you to our Substack). You can also comment on posts here by signing up for a free account or downloading the Substack app.
The Substack app is a fantastic way to access all our content and discover other amazing writers. It’s completely free and available for download on both Google Play and Apple’s App Store.
X (formerly Twitter): @dCorizeNowTeam / x.com/dCorizeNowTeam (please follow us on X to see all our posts + how we engage with other voices in the community, including Surrey Police, various agencies & regulators (BC FSA, BC Law Society, etc.)). X (formerly Twitter) is also completely free and available for download on both Google Play and Apple’s App Store.
Please be assured that we have only just begun this journey. Those of us leading this charge are known for our resolve; we never give up, especially in the face of such objectionable conduct and characters, for the truth is immutable.
We are all d’Corize Now, and We Must Act Now!
Thank you again for your emails & support.
Kind regards,
d’Corize Now Team
 | A guest post by
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Thanks a lot for sharing these resources and information!
Reflecting on how the PQ manager has replied to my emails, and to those of other owners, it’s striking how much power she tries to exert. Her tone is often dismissive, at times even degrading, as if owners have no right to ask questions. She seems to believe that by contacting her, we’re creating unnecessary work. I’m sorry to inconvenience her with the duties she’s actually paid to perform. Her emails always ends with ‘Warmest regards,’ but the only thing that comes through is chill and condescension. Our building deserves professionals who respect the people they serve.
I thought it was only me, but seems like many owners who may have questions and concerns on her duties and professional.