In August 2025 an owner wrote to a strata advice column about a $45,000 roof bill. Their strata had three lots: the original house and two coach houses. The roof needing work was on the original house. One owner wanted the bill split one third each. Another pointed to a split of 54%, 23% and 23%. And who, they asked, should have warned the buyers? Under the BC Strata Property Act and the Standard Bylaws, the strata repairs the roofs of the buildings in a building strata, and the strata shares its costs by unit entitlement, the number each lot carries on the strata plan’s Schedule of Unit Entitlement. So the default answer is the 54 / 23 / 23 split, if those are the unit entitlement shares. A one-third split needs every owner to agree.
Below is how to work out the answer for your own strata, how to raise the money, and what a buyer should have been shown. Our repairs: who pays guide covers every other part of the building.
Step 1: is the roof the strata’s job?
Start with the strata plan. A roof is either inside a strata lot or part of the common property.
- Common property. The strata “must repair and maintain common property” (s.72(1)). A bylaw can hand an owner the repair of limited common property, the part of the common property set aside for one lot, but nothing in s.72 lets a bylaw hand an owner the repair of other common property unless the Regulation names it.
- Inside a strata lot. The owner repairs their own lot, except what the bylaws give to the strata (Standard Bylaw 2(1)). Standard Bylaw 8(d) gives the strata “the structure of a building” and “the exterior of a building” on every strata lot in a plan that is not a bare land plan.
So in a building strata using the Standard Bylaws, the roof of the original house is the strata’s job either way. Two things change that answer:
- Bare land strata. If your plan is a bare land strata, where lot lines are set by survey markers on the ground, Standard Bylaw 8(d) does not apply and the owner repairs their own house. Our bare land strata page explains how to tell which kind you have.
- Your own bylaws. If your strata filed bylaws that replace Bylaw 8, read those. The Standard Bylaws apply only where the strata has not filed different ones.
Step 2: how the strata splits a cost
Once the cost is the strata’s, section 99 sets each lot’s share: the lot’s unit entitlement, divided by the total unit entitlement, times the cost. For a residential lot, unit entitlement is one of three things (s.246(3)):
- the lot’s habitable area in square metres, measured by a BC land surveyor (patios, balconies, garages and storage do not count, Regulation s.14.2)
- the same whole number for every lot
- a number the Superintendent of Real Estate approves
A larger original house with two smaller coach houses, measured by area, gives an uneven split. Here is the $45,000 bill both ways:
| Lot | Share by unit entitlement (example) | Cost at 54 / 23 / 23 | Cost at one third each |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original house | 54% | $24,300 | $15,000 |
| Coach house A | 23% | $10,350 | $15,000 |
| Coach house B | 23% | $10,350 | $15,000 |
| Total | 100% | $45,000 | $45,000 |
Example shares from the letter; our arithmetic.
The same unit entitlement sets each owner’s share of the common property and of any court judgment against the strata (s.66, s.166). The owner of the original house pays more of every bill under this method, including the coach house roofs when their turn comes. Our unit entitlement guide and fee split calculator show the split for your own numbers.
Step 3: how the money is raised
A roof is a cost that comes less often than once a year, so it belongs to the contingency reserve fund (CRF), the strata’s savings fund (s.92(b)). There are three ways to pay for it.
| Route | Vote needed | How the cost is split | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spend from the reserve fund | 3/4 vote at a general meeting | Already paid in through fees, by unit entitlement | s.96 |
| Special levy by unit entitlement | 3/4 vote | By unit entitlement | s.108(2)(a) |
| Special levy split another fair way, such as one third each | Unanimous vote | As stated in the resolution | s.108(2)(b) |
| Change the fee formula for good | Unanimous vote, filed at the Land Title Office | As stated in the resolution | s.100 |
A special levy is a one-time charge to owners for a stated purpose, on top of the regular fees. The resolution must state the purpose, the total, how each share was worked out, each lot’s amount and the due dates (s.108(3)). Our special levy guide walks through the wording.
In a three-lot strata, a 3/4 vote needs at least 3/4 of the votes cast, so if all three owners vote, one “no” blocks it (s.1). The Act gives two ways forward when a vote fails:
- Emergency repairs. If there are reasonable grounds to believe an immediate repair is needed to ensure safety or prevent significant loss or damage, the strata may spend from the operating fund or the reserve without a vote, limited to the minimum needed, and must tell owners as soon as feasible (s.98(3), (5), (6)).
- Court approval of a levy. If a special levy shared by unit entitlement, to repair common property or common assets for safety or to prevent significant loss, gets more than half the votes cast but less than 3/4, the strata can ask the BC Supreme Court to approve it within 90 days of the vote (s.173(2), (3)). This route covers common property only, so it helps only if the plan shows the roof as common property.
Step 4: who should have warned the buyers
The law requires no repair forecast for a three-lot strata. The Strata Property Regulation exempts a strata from depreciation reports “if and for so long as there are fewer than 5 strata lots in the strata plan” (s.6.22). A depreciation report is the 30-year repair forecast larger stratas must get.
What a buyer could have seen:
- Form B. The information certificate a seller’s strata issues must state the reserve fund balance, the monthly fees, approved special levies and any expected spending over budget, with the current budget attached (s.59). A $45,000 roof against a small reserve shows up there as a gap.
- The interim budget. In a new strata, the developer must give each buyer an interim budget before they sign, with at least 10% of operating costs going to the reserve (s.13; Regulation s.3.01).
- The developer’s documents. At the first annual general meeting the developer must hand over all warranties and manuals, and the names of the roofing contractor (s.20(2); Regulation s.3.2). Those show the roof’s age and any warranty still running.
The 10% minimum reserve contribution (Regulation s.6.1(2)) is a floor. On a $9,000 operating budget it is $900 a year, which takes 50 years to reach $45,000 before interest (our arithmetic). Owners of a small strata can vote a larger contribution in the budget by majority vote.
Step 5: decide how future roofs will be paid
The original house and the coach houses will need roofs at different times. Settle the rule before the next bill arrives.
- Keep the unit entitlement split. No vote needed. Each roof is shared by the s.99 formula.
- Each owner repairs the outside of their own building. Standard Bylaw 8(d) is what gives the strata the exterior of each strata lot. Without it, each owner repairs everything in their own lot (Standard Bylaw 2(1)). A strata can also, by bylaw, take on the repair of specified parts of some lots only, and the Regulation then shares that cost only among those lots (s.72(3); Regulation s.6.5). Any bylaw change takes a 3/4 vote and has no effect until Form I is filed at the Land Title Office (s.128). Have a lawyer draft the wording.
- A new fee formula. A unanimous resolution under s.100, filed at the Land Title Office.
Whichever you pick, the strata must still insure every building shown on the strata plan for full replacement value (s.149).
If your strata includes a house and a laneway or coach house, our page on suites, laneway homes and coach houses covers which of those can be their own strata lot city by city. For splits, roofs and reserve plans in a strata of 2 to 6 units, go back to repairs: who pays.
We are building the StraPlex app for owners of 2 to 6 unit stratas, with the budget, the reserve fund, meetings and records in one place. The waitlist is below.
David Babakaiff, Co-Founder, VanPlex | PlexRank™ | Profit with Multiplex
