What should I read before buying a strata home in BC?

Question

Accepted Answer

The Information Certificate (Form B), with the budget, rules and latest depreciation report attached, and the minutes, financial statements and bylaws the seller can authorize you to see. Its minutes, financial statements, contracts and correspondence are open to an owner and anyone the owner authorizes in writing. Those papers tell you what the building will need and who pays; the report on the lot tells you about the land under it. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. The Information Certificate (Form B): Within one week of a request by an owner, a buyer or someone either authorizes, the strata corporation must give an Information Certificate in the prescribed form (Strata Property Act s. 59 (1)). It discloses the monthly strata fees, money the owner owes, approved special levies still to be paid and when, any expected overrun of this year's budget, the contingency reserve fund less spending already approved, bylaw amendments and 3/4 or unanimous resolutions not yet filed at the land title office, notice of resolutions still to be voted on, court, arbitration and tribunal proceedings and judgments against the corporation, outstanding notices and work orders, the parking stalls and storage lockers allocated to the unit and a summary of the insurance (s. 59 (3)). The rules, the current budget and the most recent depreciation report are attached (s. 59 (4)). The fee is at most $35, plus up to 25 cents a page for copies (Strata Property Regulation s. 4.4). Relying on it: What the certificate discloses binds the strata corporation toward someone who relied on it and acted reasonably, except the insurance summary where it came from the insurer or its agent (s. 59 (5), (5.1)). A court can relieve the corporation of an inaccurate certificate's consequences, so read the papers behind it too (s. 59 (6), our reading). Minutes, accounts and the rest: The strata corporation must keep the minutes of general and council meetings with the votes, its books of account, budgets and financial statements for this and past years, its contracts, any arbitrator's, judge's or Civil Resolution Tribunal decision in a case it was in and any legal opinions it obtained, its correspondence, the bylaws and rules, and the registered strata plan (s. 35). It must let an owner, or a person the owner authorizes in writing, inspect and copy them within 2 weeks, one week for the bylaws and rules, for a fee the regulation caps (s. 36). A buyer gets them through the seller's written authorization. The depreciation report: A qualified person's estimate of the repair and replacement cost of the building's major items and how long each is expected to last (s. 94). A strata corporation must get a new one at least every 5 years; one set up before July 1, 2024 with none since 2020 must get one before July 1, 2026 if it is wholly or partly in the Capital, Fraser Valley or Metro Vancouver regional districts (islands reached only by boat or air aside), and before July 1, 2027 elsewhere; one with fewer than 5 strata lots needn't get one (Strata Property Regulation ss. 6.21, 6.22). Set its costs and timing against the contingency reserve fund on the certificate: the gap is what fees or special levies would have to cover (our reading). The reserve fund and levies: Spending from the contingency reserve fund on repairs the latest depreciation report recommends needs a majority vote at a general meeting; most other spending, a 3/4 vote (s. 96). A special levy already approved is on the certificate, with the date it's due (s. 59 (3) (d)); one proposed but not yet voted on shows only as notice of a resolution, and in the minutes. Your share: Strata fees are each strata lot's share of the operating fund and the contingency reserve fund, worked out from its unit entitlement on the strata plan unless the owners have agreed otherwise (ss. 99, 100). Special levies are usually shared the same way. Bylaws the Act limits: A strata corporation may not screen tenants or otherwise restrict renting a strata lot (s. 141, since 2022). A bylaw may restrict residents' ages only to require 55 or older, and then not for those already living there or a resident's caregiver (ss. 123.1, 123.2). A bylaw prohibiting pets doesn't reach a pet already living there when it passed, or a guide or service dog (s. 123). A bylaw can't restrict an owner's right to sell, lease or mortgage, and is unenforceable where it breaks the Act or the Human Rights Code (s. 121). Other bylaws, on pets, renovations, noise or use, bind you as an owner: read them all. What a report on the lot shows: A strata building's units each have a PID, but zoning, the floodplain, fire history, hazards and what's planned nearby are about the land the whole building stands on, so a report on any unit reads that land (our reading). The building's own state and finances are in the strata's papers. What it means for a buyer: Read the last two years of minutes for leaks, building envelope or roof work, insurance claims and deductibles, special levies discussed and disputes; check the depreciation report's next big items against the reserve fund; and ask the Civil Resolution Tribunal's published decisions for the strata corporation's name (our reading).

What should I read before buying a strata home in BC?

What the answer means

Before you buy: who to ask