A strata corporation with four or fewer lots in British Columbia is exempt from depreciation reports. Add a fifth lot and the corporation must commission one from a listed professional and repeat it every five years. From July 1, 2027, the developer of a new five-lot strata pays a minimum of $6,000 toward the first report before handing the building over.
That line between four and five units runs through most multiplex decisions in this province. It is the same line CMHC draws between a residential mortgage and a commercial one, and it is the line that decides whether a sixplex buyer gets a professional forecast of the building’s repair costs or has to build one themselves.
What a depreciation report is
A depreciation report is a professional estimate of what it will cost to repair and replace the property a strata corporation owns in common, and when those costs will come due. Roofs, cladding, windows, decks, the shared drain line, the boiler if there is one. The report gives the owners a schedule so they can fund the contingency reserve fund ahead of the bill instead of raising a special levy after it arrives.
Ravi Kahlon, then Minister of Housing, put the purpose in one sentence when the new rules were announced on April 22, 2024: “No one wants to be surprised by a sudden special levy to cover repairs that should have been planned for.”
The exemption, in the regulation’s words
The Strata Property Regulation says the reporting section of the Act does not apply to a strata corporation “if and for so long as there are fewer than 5 strata lots in the strata plan.” The province’s guidance page says the same thing in plainer language: strata corporations with four or fewer lots continue to be exempted and are not required to obtain depreciation reports.
So a duplex, a triplex and a fourplex strata can go their whole life without one. A fiveplex or a sixplex must commission one, and six is the count the provincial small-scale housing rules allow on a lot near frequent transit.
What changed on July 1, 2024
Before the change, a strata with five or more lots was supposed to update its report every three years, but the owners could vote to skip it. If three-quarters of them voted for a deferral at the annual general meeting, the report was put off a year, and nothing stopped them from voting the same way the next year. The province called it a loophole that allowed strata corporations to indefinitely defer depreciation reports.
The regulation that took effect July 1, 2024 closed that loophole and changed the cycle from three years to five. The province said this aligns British Columbia with Alberta and Ontario.
A second change took effect July 1, 2025. From that date a depreciation report must come from a member of one of the professions listed in the regulation: engineers, architects, applied science technologists, appraisers, certified reserve planners and quantity surveyors. The list is closed: a report from anyone outside those professions no longer satisfies the Act.
The deadlines for existing stratas
Strata corporations of five or more lots that had no report, or whose last report was dated before December 31, 2020, had to obtain one by a fixed date that depends on where the building stands.
| Location of the strata | Deadline for the first report |
|---|---|
| Metro Vancouver (except islands reached only by boat or air, such as Bowen Island), the Fraser Valley, and the Capital Regional District | July 1, 2026 |
| Everywhere else in British Columbia | July 1, 2027 |
Source: Province of British Columbia, Strata depreciation report requirements.
The Metro Vancouver date has already passed. A five-plus-unit strata in Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, Abbotsford or Victoria that still has no report is now out of compliance. A buyer looking at a unit in one of those buildings should ask for the report and, if there is none, ask why.
The rules for a brand-new strata
A multiplex that stratifies at completion is a new strata corporation, and the timing of its first report depends on when it forms.
| Strata corporation formed | First report due | Developer contribution |
|---|---|---|
| July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2027 | Within two years of the first annual general meeting, then every five years | None required |
| On or after July 1, 2027 | Within 18 months of the first annual general meeting, then every five years | Minimum $5,000 plus $200 per strata lot, to a maximum of $30,000 |
Source: Province of British Columbia, Strata depreciation report requirements; BC Gov News release 2024HOUS0061, April 22, 2024.
The contribution formula is short enough to run in your head.
| Strata lots | Developer contribution |
|---|---|
| 5 | $6,000 |
| 6 | $6,200 |
| 8 | $6,600 |
| 12 | $7,400 |
| 125 or more | $30,000 (the cap) |
The money goes toward the cost of the first report, and the regulation sets no figure for what the report itself costs. That depends on the building and the provider.
Tony Gioventu, executive director of the Condominium Home Owners Association of BC, described the developer deposit in the province’s announcement as a way “for future strata corporations to launch their reports.”
What this means for a fourplex
If you are buying a unit in a four-lot strata. There will be no depreciation report, now or later, unless the owners choose to commission one voluntarily. Nobody has forecast the roof. The first wave of Burnaby multiplex buyers learned that a new building still has a maintenance schedule, and in a fourplex the schedule is yours to write. Ask the developer for the building envelope warranty documents, the roofing warranty, and the mechanical equipment manuals, then price the replacements yourself and fund the contingency reserve on that basis.
If you are developing a fourplex. No report and no contribution. The exemption is a real saving in the strata’s running costs. Four is also the most common unit count in the VanPlex Vancouver tracker, with 264 fourplex projects on September 11, 2026.
What this means for a fiveplex or sixplex
If you are developing five or more strata lots. Budget the report as a recurring cost the owners will carry, and if your strata will form on or after July 1, 2027, budget your contribution: $6,000 for five lots, $6,200 for six. The first annual general meeting starts the 18-month clock, so the report will be commissioned while your building envelope warranty is still in its first years. A report that flags a defect early is worth having, because a building envelope warranty claim is easier to make inside its own window.
If you are buying a unit in a five-plus-lot strata. In Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and the Capital Regional District, an established strata should already hold a report dated after December 31, 2020. A new strata should have one within two years of its first meeting, or 18 months if it formed after July 1, 2027. Read it before you write the offer. The contingency reserve fund balance against the report’s schedule tells you whether the monthly fee is honest.
The building that needs none of this
A multiplex held under a single title as a rental building has no strata corporation, so none of these rules apply. The owner carries the whole roof and does their own planning. The strata versus rental decision is bigger than depreciation reports, but this is one more line on the ledger: strata title for five or more units brings a professional report every five years, paid by the owners, and single title brings nothing but your own discipline.
Where the same line shows up
Five units is the point where a small building starts being treated like a big one. CMHC moves the mortgage from residential to commercial at five. The Strata Property Act starts requiring depreciation reports at five. When you set the unit count on a lot, you are also choosing which set of rules the building lives under for the next fifty years, and a shared wall agreement in a fourplex is a different document from a reserve fund study in a sixplex.
Sources: Province of British Columbia, Strata depreciation report requirements (housing and tenancy guidance page); Strata Property Regulation, B.C. Reg. 43/2000; BC Gov News, “New regulations help close loopholes, protect strata owners,” release 2024HOUS0061-000605, April 22, 2024; Province of British Columbia, Order in Council 204/2024, April 22, 2024. All read September 17, 2026.
David Babakaiff, Co-Founder, VanPlex | PlexRank™ | Profit with Multiplex
