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'Best sound system in the world': B.C. strata owner fined $3,500 for noise

"You and all other neighbours have to get use[d] to this system."
Noise-ljubaphoto-iStock-Getty Images
People moved out after after multiple complaints about a neighbour's sound system.

A man who claimed he had "the best sound system in the world" has been fined by the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal $3,500 for noise complaints. 

Rukshila Levelton and Michael Levelton lived in the same strata corporation as Anushka Madushan Indrasiri and Nathasha Lankeshwari Vithanage, according to the tribunal's June 22 decision.

The Leveltons said their neighbours caused unreasonable noise and claimed $3,500 as damages under the nuisance law.

When the pair complained about the noise, Indrasiri said he couldn’t do anything about the noise from his Sonos sound system.

“You and all other neighbours have to get use[d] to this system,” Indrasiri wrote in a text to Rukshila Levelton.

Indrasiri and Vithanage said the Leveltons were unreasonably sensitive to noise. They also said the case was moot as the Leveltons had moved out, a claim tribunal member David Jiang dismissed as the Leveltons were suing for past harm.

Problems began in February 2022 when the sound system arrived. The Leveltons recorded 20 incidents during the next five months. The pair also contacted the strata manager and the police.

The strata concluded noise levels were unacceptable.

Another neighbour said “loud bass music was a regular occurrence for hours on end.”

Both that neighbour and the Leveltons moved out in November 2022.

Jiang found Indrasiri and Vithanage had caused unreasonable noise and fined them.