E. Brohm

The Public Guardian and Trustee (PGT) brought an application concerning the property of a woman with developmental delays, initially seeking to terminate her friend's power of attorney and be appointed guardian of property.

The PGT later sought court approval of a Trust Agreement to manage her settlement funds.

The court refused to approve the Trust Agreement, finding that the woman had the requisite capacity to grant the power of attorney to her friend.

The court emphasized the low threshold for capacity to grant a power of attorney and the importance of autonomy, and accepted the friend's informal passing of accounts.

The applicant constructed two multi-unit residential buildings and sought to rent each unit to up to seven students.

The City opposed, arguing that renting to more than four students would classify the units as 'boarding, lodging or rooming houses', which were not permitted in the zone, and would violate the Building Code.

The applicant sought declarations that the project was a 'stacked townhouse' and could legally rent to seven occupants per unit.

The court found that the students living together constituted a 'single household unit' and therefore the units were 'dwelling units' rather than boarding houses under both the zoning by-law and the Building Code.

The court granted the applicant's declarations and ordered the City to issue a final occupancy permit without conditions on the number of occupants.