In a BC duplex strata, a fence, the front stairs or a yard can be set aside for one owner’s use and still be the strata’s to repair. Under the Standard Bylaws, the strata repairs fences that enclose a yard and stairs attached to a building, however often the work comes up, even when the yard or the stairs are set aside for one owner’s use. The owner who uses the yard handles its routine upkeep. And no owner may change a fence, stairs or yard on common property without the strata’s written approval, which in a duplex means the other owner.
Two Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT) decisions apply these rules to duplexes. In 2019 the tribunal ordered a duplex strata to replace a worn-out fence between two backyards and ordered one owner to take down a fence he had put up on his own. In 2023 it let one owner build a front-yard fence and new front stairs after finding the other owner’s refusals “significantly unfair”, and turned down that owner’s claim for $2,625 she had paid to move a set of stairs. Our guide to limited common property explains the term these cases turn on.
First, read the strata plan
Every answer depends on what the strata plan shows for the yard, the fence and the stairs:
- Inside a strata lot. Part of the owner’s lot.
- Common property. Everything on the plan that is outside the strata lots. All owners share it.
- Limited common property. Common property the plan sets aside for the exclusive use of one or more lots, such as a yard, a porch or a patio, marked with the lot number.
In both decisions below, the yards and stairs were limited common property. Our guide to repairs: who pays shows how to read a plan for the rest of the building.
Who repairs what, under the Standard Bylaws
| Item | If it is limited common property | If it is inside a strata lot |
|---|---|---|
| Fence enclosing a yard | Strata, every time (Bylaw 8(c)(ii)) | Strata (Bylaw 8(d)(v)) |
| Stairs attached to the building | Strata, every time (Bylaw 8(c)(ii)) | Strata (Bylaw 8(d)(iii)) |
| Lawn, planting, weeding and other upkeep done once a year or more | The owner who uses it (Bylaw 2(2)) | The owner (Bylaw 2(1)) |
| Other repairs that come less than once a year | Strata (Bylaw 8(c)(i)) | The owner, unless the bylaws give it to the strata |
Source: Schedule of Standard Bylaws, Strata Property Act, current to October 27, 2026. These rules apply in a building strata; in a bare land strata, Bylaw 8(d) does not apply. A strata that filed its own bylaws follows those.
When the strata repairs, the cost is a common expense shared by unit entitlement, each lot’s number on the Schedule of Unit Entitlement filed with the plan (s.99). One exception: an operating cost that benefits only limited common property is shared only by the lots entitled to use it (Regulation s.6.4(1)).
Changing a fence, stairs or a yard needs written approval
Repair is one rule. Change is another.
- Standard Bylaw 6(1): an owner “must obtain the written approval of the strata corporation before making an alteration to common property, including limited common property”.
- Standard Bylaw 5(1): the same for stairs, fences around a yard, and the outside of a building inside a strata lot. Under Bylaw 5 the strata “must not unreasonably withhold its approval”.
- Both: the strata can make approval depend on the owner agreeing in writing to take on the costs of the change.
In a two-lot strata, the strata’s approval is the other owner’s approval.
Case 1: the backyard fence, 2019 BCCRT 1070
In Bruzas et al v. Bjornson et al, 2019 BCCRT 1070, a side-by-side duplex had a fence along the line between the two backyards, both shown as limited common property. One owner wanted the whole fence replaced and asked the other to pay half, $2,500. The other said only 4 or 5 panels needed work, and put up his own three-panel fence as a temporary measure.
Vice Chair Andrea Ritchie decided on September 11, 2019:
- The temporary fence broke Bylaw 6(1). It sat on limited common property, and “approval from the strata requires approval from the applicants.” He had to remove it within 30 days.
- The old fence was the strata’s to replace. Under Bylaw 8(c)(ii), the strata must repair fences that enclose yards. Based on the photos, replacing the whole fence was reasonable.
- The quote was reasonable. The tribunal compared the contractor’s quote, $4,875.72 plus GST for 91 feet of 6-foot cedar fencing, with the other owner’s online material prices, and ordered the strata to hire a contractor within 30 days on that quote.
- Fees. The owner who built the temporary fence repaid $225 in tribunal fees.
Case 2: the front fence and front stairs, 2023 BCCRT 340
In Hundal v. Deshaw, 2023 BCCRT 340, a two-lot strata in Vancouver formed in January 2020, the owners of lot 1 wanted to fence their front yard and replace their front stairs, which a contractor described as light metal that was slippery and sagging. The front yard, porch and stairs were limited common property for lot 1. Both proposals failed at the January 2022 annual general meeting. Vice Chair Kate Campbell decided on April 25, 2023:
- The boulevard stairs, $2,625. In 2021 the lot 1 owners had stairs built from the front yard out onto the City boulevard. After the City asked for them to be removed, the lot 2 owner hired a contractor, without a strata decision, to move them back, and claimed the $2,625 from lot 1. The tribunal dismissed the claim. The strata had not taken the steps s.135 requires before charging an owner for a bylaw breach: a complaint, written details, and a chance to answer. And “There is no authority in the SPA for one owner to simply incur an expense on behalf of the strata and then require payment from another owner.”
- The fence. The lot 2 owner said she had voted against it because lot 1 would not repay the $2,625. The tribunal found that refusal was made “in bad faith in an attempt to extract a payment she was not owed” and was “significantly unfair”. Lot 1 may build the fence and pays to build, repair and maintain it.
- The front stairs. Lot 2 objected that wooden stairs would not match. The tribunal noted she had already replaced one of two matching garage doors with a different style, found the objection unreasonable, and let lot 1 build its proposed stairs, again at its own cost for building and future upkeep.
- Porch tiles. The lot 2 owner agreed to the new tiles during the case, so the tribunal did not decide that point.
- Fees. Neither side got legal fees. Lot 2 repaid $414.72 in tribunal fees and costs of serving the claim.
What the two cases teach
- Fences and stairs are the strata’s to repair, even on one owner’s yard. One owner cannot simply fix them and send the other a bill.
- Changes need written approval first. A temporary fence counts.
- A refusal has to be about the proposal. Voting no to win an unrelated money dispute was found “significantly unfair”.
- The owner who asks for a change pays for it. In 2023, both approvals came with the cost of building and future upkeep on the owner who asked.
A short process for your next fence or stair job
- Check the strata plan: lot, common property or limited common property.
- Use the table above to see whether it is a repair, the strata’s job, or a change, which needs approval.
- For a repair, get two or three quotes and approve one at a meeting, with notes.
- For a change, send a written request with drawings and offer to take on the costs in writing.
- Decide at a general meeting with 2 weeks’ notice (s.45) and record the vote.
- If you still disagree, ask for a council hearing in writing (s.34.1), then go to the tribunal, $125 to file online. Our disputes guide explains the steps, and our duplex strata guide covers the other two-owner rules.
For how limited common property is set, changed and paid for, see our full guide to limited common property.
We are building the StraPlex app for owners of 2 to 6 unit stratas, with requests, approvals, meetings and records in one place. The waitlist is below.
David Babakaiff, Co-Founder, VanPlex | PlexRank™ | Profit with Multiplex
