Buying a strata in BC: what to check before you commit

Four rules in the Strata Property Act changed between November 2022 and July 2024, and most of what is published about BC strata was written before them. Rental restriction bylaws are void, the contingency reserve fund threshold is gone, the bylaws no longer arrive attached to a Form B, and a strata can no longer vote to put off its depreciation report.

A buyer can demand two documents in their own right. Section 59 of the Act entitles a purchaser to a Form B Information Certificate within one week of asking, and section 115 entitles them to a Form F Certificate of Payment on the same timeline. Every other document, including the bylaws and the council minutes, reaches a buyer through the seller.

Local timing differs from Vancouver and Victoria. Strata corporations in the Regional District of Nanaimo and the Cowichan Valley Regional District have until 1 July 2027 to obtain a depreciation report, where a Metro Vancouver or Capital Regional District strata was due on 1 July 2026, because the regulation names only three regional districts and neither of ours is one of them.

What has changed since 2022?

Four changes, each with a date, and each one still being described the old way on pages that have not been revisited.

The four changes, with the instrument that made each one

What changed	Where it sits	In force
Rental restriction bylaws became void	Strata Property Act section 141; sections 139 to 140 and 142 to 145 repealed	24 November 2022
The bylaws stopped being a mandatory Form B attachment	Strata Property Act section 59(4)(c), repealed	2022
The contingency reserve fund minimum became unconditional	Strata Property Regulation section 6.1(2), enacted by B.C. Reg. 7/2023	1 November 2023
The depreciation report deferral vote was removed	Strata Property Act section 94; regulation amended by B.C. Reg. 88/2024	1 July 2024

The contingency reserve fund change is the one that reads smallest and matters most. Section 6.1(2) of the Strata Property Regulation now says that the annual contribution to the fund "must be at least 10% of the total amount budgeted for the contribution to the operating fund for the current fiscal year", with no threshold above which a strata may stop. The rule it replaced let a strata stop contributing once the fund reached a quarter of the operating budget, which is why some older buildings have a fund that stalled years ago and a page somewhere still describing that as normal.

The depreciation change came with a second half that is easy to miss. Section 96 of the Act now lets a strata approve repair work by majority vote where that work is recommended in its most current depreciation report, instead of the three quarters vote everything else needs. A building with a current report can act on it faster than a building without one.

Can you still be told you cannot rent it out?

No, and this is the most useful thing on this page, because the bylaw may still be sitting in the land title office. Section 141 of the Strata Property Act now reads in full: "The strata corporation must not screen tenants, establish screening criteria, require the approval of tenants, require the insertion of terms in tenancy agreements or otherwise restrict the rental of a strata lot."

The Province of British Columbia states that as of 24 November 2022 no strata corporation or section is allowed to have a residential rental restriction bylaw, and that all strata rental restriction bylaws are invalid. The former carve out that allowed them, section 121(2)(a), was repealed at the same time.

Two things a strata can still do. It can restrict short term rentals by a three quarters vote, and the Province sets the maximum fine for breaching that kind of bylaw at $1,000 per contravention, chargeable daily, against $200 for an ordinary bylaw. It can also require that one or more residents have reached a specified age of at least 55, under section 123.1(2). That age bylaw restricts who may reside in the lot, not who may own it, and section 123.2 together with regulation section 7.01 exempts the spouse of a qualifying resident at any age, a dependent child, and a caregiver living there to provide care.

What documents do you actually get, and when?

Two documents are yours by right and the rest are not. Sections 59 and 115 of the Strata Property Act both name "a purchaser" and set a one week deadline, so a buyer can order a Form B and a Form F directly. Section 36, which governs everything else in the records, gives the right of inspection to an owner, to certain tenants, and to "a person authorized in writing by an owner or tenant". A prospective purchaser is none of those.

What each document costs and how long the strata has, under the Act and its regulation

Document	Who can ask	Deadline	Maximum fee
Form B Information Certificate	Owner or purchaser	1 week	$35 plus 25 cents per page
Form F Certificate of Payment	Owner or purchaser	1 week	$15
Bylaws and rules	Owner, tenant, or someone they authorise	1 week	25 cents per page
Minutes, financials, reports	Owner, tenant, or someone they authorise	2 weeks	25 cents per page

Inspecting records costs nothing at all. Regulation section 4.2(2) states that no fee may be charged to an owner, a tenant, or a person they authorise for the inspection of a record, so the 25 cents applies to copies only.

In practice the package usually arrives before any of that. Most strata listings on Vancouver Island carry the document set attached to the MLS® listing as a supplement, so a buyer's agent can read it before an offer is written rather than ordering it afterwards. Travis Bach, 27 August 2026. That is usually the case and not always, and where it is missing the timeline above is what you are working with.

The British Columbia Real Estate Association warns in its Legally Speaking guidance that it may take as long as 18 days to receive a full set of strata documents from the strata corporation or strata manager, and tells buyers' agents to allow for a longer subject removal period because of it.

The contract is where the review gets formalised. A strata purchase is normally written subject to the buyer receiving and approving the strata documents by a named date, and the buyer sets that date rather than inheriting it. The document set a buyer should name covers the Form B, the bylaws and rules, two years of council minutes, the financial statements and current budget, the depreciation report, and the insurance certificate. Travis Bach, 27 August 2026.

What is in a Form B, and what is not?

The Form B is a dated snapshot of one strata lot and the corporation's position, and since 2022 it no longer carries the bylaws. Section 59(3) requires it to disclose the monthly strata fees, anything the owner owes, any alteration agreements the owner has signed, any approved special levy the owner still has to pay and when, any expected overrun against the current budget, the contingency reserve fund balance net of approved but unspent amounts, unfiled bylaw amendments, unfiled resolutions, any winding up resolution, notice of any resolution not yet voted on that needs a three quarters, 80 per cent or unanimous vote, any court, arbitration or tribunal proceeding, any outstanding work orders, which parking stalls and storage lockers are allocated to the lot, and a summary of the insurance.

Section 59(4) lists what gets attached: the rules, the current budget, and the most recent depreciation report. Section 59(4)(c), which used to require the bylaws, was repealed in 2022. Ask for the bylaws separately every time.

The certificate binds the strata. Section 59(5) says the disclosed information "is binding on the strata corporation in its dealings with a person who relied on the certificate and acted reasonably in doing so". Section 59(5.1) carves out one field: the insurance summary is not binding if the strata took that information from its insurer or insurance agent. So the insurance line on a Form B is a pointer to the certificate, not a substitute for it.

What to look at first

Three fields do most of the work. The contingency reserve fund figure at 59(3)(f) is stated net of approved spending, so it is the number that shows what is actually left rather than what the account holds. The overrun field at 59(3)(e) tells you the current budget is already wrong and next year's fees will correct for it. And 59(3)(i), notice of a resolution that has not been voted on yet, is the only forward looking field on the document. A levy that has been proposed and not yet decided appears there and nowhere else.

How far back should you read the minutes?

Two years is the standard window and six years is what has to exist. Regulation section 4.1(3) requires a strata to keep minutes of annual, special and council meetings for at least six years, so where the seller can authorise a longer set there is more to read than the usual request asks for.

Minutes are the only document that shows the sequence of a problem rather than its current state. A Form B tells you where things stand today. The minutes tell you how long they have stood there.

• The same item across several years with nothing resolved. A roof discussed in 2021, again in 2023 and again in 2025 is a cost that has been postponed rather than avoided.
• A quote obtained and then not acted on. The number sits in the minutes. It will not appear on the Form B, because nothing has been approved.
• Repeated emergency spending. Section 98(3) lets a strata spend without approval where an immediate expenditure is needed to ensure safety or prevent significant loss, and section 98(6) requires it to tell owners as soon as feasible. A pattern of those tells you the building is being run reactively.
• Any discussion of whether to get a depreciation report. Since 1 July 2024 there is no decision to make.
• Insurance renewal, and any deductible increase. Section 154(c) requires the strata to inform owners of any material change in coverage, including any increase in a deductible. The minutes are where that lands first.
• Gaps. Missing months, or a switch from detailed minutes to one line entries, usually tracks a change of manager or a council that stopped recording disagreement.

What do strata fees cover?

Strata fees fund two things and nothing else. Section 92 of the Act splits them into an operating fund for expenses that come round once a year or more often, and a contingency reserve fund for expenses that come round less often than that or do not usually come round at all. Your share of both is set by unit entitlement, the number recorded on the Schedule of Unit Entitlement filed with the strata plan, not by floor area and not by what you paid.

What the fee does not cover follows from the repair split. Under the Standard Bylaws, which apply except where the strata has filed different ones, bylaw 2 makes an owner responsible for repairing and maintaining their own strata lot, and bylaw 8 confines the strata's responsibility inside a strata lot to the structure, the exterior, chimneys, stairs and balconies, exterior doors, windows and skylights, and the fences and railings enclosing a patio, balcony or yard. Interior finishes, appliances, and the plumbing fixtures inside your walls sit with you. A strata can move that line either way in its own bylaws under section 72, which is why the filed bylaws answer this for your building and a general article cannot.

Why there is no average to quote

No reliable average strata fee is published for British Columbia, for Vancouver Island, or for Nanaimo, and that is worth saying rather than filling with a number. Nothing collects the figure. Statistics Canada folds condominium fees into a single monthly shelter cost for owned dwellings with no separable line, and there is no provincial registry of strata budgets. Every fee is set annually by majority vote in its own corporation, against its own building, its own reserve position and its own insurance renewal. Any single number offered as a BC average has been estimated by whoever published it.

What you can compare is a specific fee against what it buys. Ask what the fee includes, read the budget attached to the Form B, and look at the reserve position and the depreciation report alongside it. A low fee in a building with a thin reserve and deferred work is a levy waiting to be scheduled.

Kiel Bach on what a strata fee pays for in a Nanaimo building, and the documents to read before you commit.

What is a depreciation report, and when is yours due?

A depreciation report is a 30 year forecast of what a building will need and what it will cost, and here it is due by 1 July 2027. Regulation section 6.2 requires an on site visual inspection and an inventory covering the structure, the exterior including roofs and windows, the systems including electrical, heating, ventilation, plumbing and fire protection, parking and roadways, utilities, landscaping, interior finishes and balconies, each with an estimated service life over 30 years.

It also has to show the money. The regulation requires the current contingency reserve fund balance net of approved spending, the interest and inflation assumptions used, and at least three cash flow funding models for the reserve across those 30 years. Those models may include reserve contributions, special levies, or borrowing. That section is the one worth reading, because it is the building's own commissioned document setting out what the alternatives cost per lot.

Deadlines set by the Strata Property Regulation, for a strata with no report or none since 31 December 2020

Where the strata is	Depreciation report	Electrical planning report
Metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley or Capital Regional District	1 July 2026	31 December 2026
Everywhere else, including the Nanaimo and Cowichan Valley regional districts	1 July 2027	31 December 2028

Regulation section 6.21(1) names the three regional districts as the "specified area", and section 6.21(3)(b) gives every strata outside it until 1 July 2027. The electrical planning report is a separate and newer requirement under section 94.1 of the Act, dealing with electrical capacity and vehicle charging, and section 5.8(2)(b) puts our deadline at 31 December 2028. After the first one, a new depreciation report is due at least every five years. A strata plan with fewer than five strata lots is exempt from the depreciation requirement altogether.

The British Columbia Real Estate Association notes in its August 2026 guidance that the Act and regulation impose no automatic fine for missing the deadline, and that an owner, tenant, mortgagee or other interested person may instead seek a court order requiring the strata to comply. So a missing report is a governance signal to read against the minutes rather than a penalty already incurred.

Does it matter if the strata is self-managed?

It changes how you read the records, not whether the building is well run. A self-managed strata keeps its records to the same statutory standard as one with a management company, and the standard is set by section 35 of the Act and section 4.1 of the regulation. What differs is that a management company keeps records as a business process, while a self-managed council keeps them as volunteer work, so the quality is more variable in both directions. Some of the best kept records on the Island belong to small self-managed buildings where the same person has done the minutes for a decade. Travis Bach, 27 August 2026.

What to look for, either way, is whether the statutory record is actually complete. The Act names what has to exist, so it can be checked rather than assumed.

• Minutes for the full six years that regulation section 4.1(3) requires, not just the most recent set.
• Budgets and financial statements for the current and previous years, retained for at least six years under the same section.
• Any depreciation report, retained permanently. Regulation section 4.1(2) requires that, along with the registered strata plan and any electrical planning report.
• Engineering, risk and building reports, retained until the item they cover is replaced. These are the ones most often missing, and they are where a known problem is described in detail.
• Whether the two week deadline in section 36(3) was met. A strata that takes six weeks to produce records is telling you something about how it operates.

What is a bare land strata?

A bare land strata divides land by survey markers rather than by buildings. Section 1(1) of the Act defines a bare land strata plan as one where "the boundaries of the strata lots are defined on a horizontal plane by reference to survey markers and not by reference to the floors, walls or ceilings of a building". You own the lot and what you build on it, and the strata owns the roads, services and common areas between the lots. It is a common form across Vancouver Island for patio home developments and rural subdivisions, and it behaves differently enough from an apartment strata to be worth checking on its own terms.

Four provisions work differently.

• Standard bylaw 5, the alteration approval rule, does not apply. Bylaw 5(3) excludes bare land strata lots, so the ordinary requirement to get written approval before altering the structure or exterior of a building is not the default here.
• The strata does not insure your building. Section 149(3) removes the developer installed fixtures requirement for bare land plans, and section 161(2) lets an owner insure the buildings and fixtures on their own lot. Building insurance is yours, not the corporation's.
• Standard bylaw 8 does not put the strata inside your walls. Bylaw 8(d) applies only to a strata plan that is not a bare land plan.
• The depreciation report requirement still applies. The British Columbia Real Estate Association points out that bare land strata corporations are bound by the same requirements because they often manage significant infrastructure such as roads and utilities. A bare land strata with a private road and a water system has more to forecast than many apartment buildings.

Common questions

What is included in strata fees in BC?

Strata fees fund two things under section 92 of the Strata Property Act: an operating fund for expenses that come round once a year or more often, and a contingency reserve fund for expenses that come round less often or not usually at all. Your share of both is set by unit entitlement, the number filed on the Schedule of Unit Entitlement with the strata plan. What that covers inside your own unit follows the repair split in the Standard Bylaws, where bylaw 2 makes the owner responsible for the strata lot and bylaw 8 confines the strata to structure, exterior, chimneys, stairs, balconies, exterior doors, windows and skylights, and patio or balcony enclosures. A strata can move that line in its own filed bylaws under section 72.

Are strata depreciation reports mandatory in BC?

Yes, for any strata corporation with five or more strata lots, and the deferral vote was removed on 1 July 2024. A strata corporation in the Regional District of Nanaimo or the Cowichan Valley Regional District that has no report, or none obtained since 31 December 2020, must obtain one before 1 July 2027 under section 6.21(3)(b) of the Strata Property Regulation. Metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley and Capital Regional District corporations were due on 1 July 2026. After the first report, a new one is due at least every five years. A strata plan with fewer than five strata lots is exempt.

Can a strata restrict rentals in BC?

No. Section 141 of the Strata Property Act states that a strata corporation must not screen tenants, establish screening criteria, require the approval of tenants, require the insertion of terms in tenancy agreements or otherwise restrict the rental of a strata lot. The Province of British Columbia states that as of 24 November 2022 all strata rental restriction bylaws are invalid. Those bylaws were voided rather than deleted, so an older building may still have one filed in the land title office where it has no force. A strata can still restrict short term rentals by a three quarters vote, and can require that one or more residents have reached a specified age of at least 55.

What is a bare land strata?

A bare land strata plan is one where the boundaries of the strata lots are defined on a horizontal plane by reference to survey markers and not by reference to the floors, walls or ceilings of a building, under section 1(1) of the Strata Property Act. The owner holds the lot and what stands on it, and the corporation holds the roads, services and common areas. Standard bylaw 5 on alterations does not apply, section 161(2) lets the owner insure the buildings on their own lot, and standard bylaw 8 does not extend the strata's repair duty inside the lot. The depreciation report requirement applies in full.

How long is a Form B valid for in BC?

The Strata Property Act sets no expiry on a Form B. Section 59(2) requires the certificate to contain its information as of the date of the certificate, so it is a dated snapshot rather than a document with a term. The 60 day figure people are thinking of belongs to the Form F Certificate of Payment, which section 115(2) makes current for the purposes of section 256 for 60 days from the date it is issued. Section 59(5) makes the Form B binding on the strata where someone relied on it and acted reasonably, with the insurance summary carved out by section 59(5.1).

Can a strata enter your home in BC?

Yes, in two situations set out in standard bylaw 7. An owner, tenant, occupant or visitor must allow a person authorised by the strata to enter in an emergency without notice, to ensure safety or prevent significant loss or damage, and at a reasonable time on 48 hours written notice to inspect, repair or maintain common property, common assets, or the parts of a strata lot the strata is responsible to repair or insure. The Standard Bylaws apply except to the extent that different bylaws are filed in the land title office, so check the filed set for the building.

Where to go next

• Moving to Nanaimo for the wider relocation picture, from schools to getting around.
• Cost of Living in Nanaimo for what the monthly side looks like once the purchase is done.
• Health care on Vancouver Island for MSP, family doctors and where the hospitals are.
• Selling your home in Nanaimo for the other side of the transaction, including what a seller has to produce.

Looking at a strata and want a second read of the documents Start with the relocation guide, then send us the building and we will tell you what we see in the minutes.