Can I stratify my duplex or house in BC so each home has its own title?
Only with the council's or regional board's approval: a building people have lived in becomes strata lots only once it approves the strata plan, and it may refuse, with no appeal.
Opens the lot's report at this answer. If an address isn't found, try the PID, the 9-digit parcel number on the land title or assessment notice.
What the answer means
A strata plan divides a building into strata lots, each with its own title, and common property the owners share. For a new building a land surveyor certifies nobody has lived in it; for a building people have lived in, a duplex or a house with a suite, the strata plan first needs the approval of the council or the regional board, which looks at the building and at the renters in it.
- Who approves it
- If a strata plan includes a previously occupied building, the applicant submits it to the approving authority: the council in a municipality, the regional board on rural land, or the Nisga'a or treaty First Nation's government on its lands (Strata Property Act s. 242 (1), (2)). It may approve, approve on conditions, or refuse, and its decision is final and can't be appealed (s. 242 (3), (4)).
- The building must comply
- The approving authority must not approve the plan unless the building substantially complies with the applicable bylaws of the municipality or regional district and the building regulations under the Building Act (Strata Property Act s. 242 (5)). An older duplex, or a suite never built as a separate home, may need work first (our reading).
- What it weighs
- It must consider the priority of rental housing over privately owned housing in the area, any proposals to relocate the people living there, the building's life expectancy, projected major increases in maintenance costs from its condition, and anything else it thinks relevant (Strata Property Act s. 242 (6)).
- One council's rules
- The City of Richmond's bulletin DEVAPPS-16 (October 7, 2024) asks for a duplex only proof that the building is used as a two-family dwelling and not more, such as a sworn affidavit, building plans or a two-family dwelling covenant; for 3 or more homes its policy looks at rental vacancy rates, the tenants' relocation and written views, and a qualified person's report on the building's condition. Other councils set their own; some delegate small buildings to an approving officer, as s. 242 (10) allows.
- A house with a suite
- A secondary suite is part of a house in most zoning bylaws, not a second dwelling, so a council may treat stratifying it as making a separate home the zone or the building code doesn't allow (our reading of s. 242 (5)). Ask before you buy a house planning to sell the suite.
- The strata plan
- A British Columbia land surveyor draws the strata plan, showing the land, the buildings and each strata lot with its area; it's signed by the owner and each holder of a registered charge, such as the mortgage lender, and endorsed by the approving authority (Strata Property Act s. 244 (1)). The land must be one parcel in the owner's name (s. 240), and the plan goes in with a schedule of unit entitlement, which sets each lot's share of the common expenses, and any bylaws that differ from the Standard Bylaws (ss. 245, 246). The approval endorsement must be dated within 180 days of tendering the plan (s. 242 (9)).
- New building instead
- A building nobody has lived in needs no conversion approval: a surveyor endorses the plan that it hasn't been previously occupied, within 180 days of deposit (Strata Property Act s. 241). Building a new duplex to stratify still goes through the zone, the building permit and the subdivision rules (our reading).
- Tenants
- Stratifying doesn't end a tenancy: a tenant stays under the Residential Tenancy Act, and a buyer of the new strata lot takes the tenancy with it (see buying a home with tenants).
- Once it's a strata
- The strata corporation exists from deposit, with the two owners as its members, its own bylaws, a budget and insurance on the building (Strata Property Act Parts 2, 6, 7 and 9; see buying a strata home). In a duplex, two owners share every decision on the roof, the walls and the insurance (our reading).
Our summary of the Strata Property Act (Part 14, ss. 239 to 246) on BC Laws (current to October 13, 2026) and the City of Richmond's Development Applications bulletin DEVAPPS-16, Strata Title Conversion Applications (2024-10-07), read 2026-10-23. We name no fee or cost: each council sets its own.
Sources (read 2026-10-23; summarised in our own words unless noted): Strata Property Act, SBC 1998, c. 43, Part 14 (ss. 239 to 246); Strata Title Conversion Applications, Bulletin DEVAPPS-16, City of Richmond (2024-10-07).
Before you buy: who to ask
- The local government
- Would you consider a strata conversion of this building, who decides it, and what do you need: proof of the number of homes, a building report, upgrades? Is the second home here a lawful dwelling under the zone, or a suite?
- Your home inspector or a specialist
- Does the building substantially meet today's bylaws and the building code for two separate homes, such as the fire separation between them and separate services?
- Your lawyer or notary
- Will the lender sign the strata plan, and what covenants or charges on the title would stay with each strata lot?
Look up the lot above: its report names the zone and how many homes the provincial floor allows on it.
See also buying a strata home, bare land strata, suites and second homes, the homes floor, subdividing a lot and buying with tenants.