In June 2026 a reader asked a strata advice column about a condo purchase in Victoria. The buyers’ agent never suggested asking for a Form B Information Certificate. It was requested 3 days before the sale closed and came with a $500 rush fee, plus $145 for copies from the management company. Only then did the buyers see a long list of court and tribunal cases against the strata. Under the BC Strata Property Act, a strata must provide a Form B within one week of a request, and the most it may charge is $35 plus copying of up to 25 cents a page, attachments included. The law sets that cap and names no rush fee.
A Form B is the document a strata gives a buyer or owner that states the fees, money owing, levies, the reserve fund balance, pending votes, legal cases and the insurance, as of its date. This post covers what a strata may charge for one, what it must contain, and when a buyer should ask for it. Our Form B guide has a line-by-line walk through the form.
The fee cap
Section 59(7) says the strata may charge the person requesting the certificate a fee of not more than the amount set out in the regulations, and may refuse to issue it until the fee is paid.
Regulation s.4.4 sets that amount: “$35 plus the cost of photocopying, or other means of reproduction, up to 25 cents per page”, and the cap covers the certificate “including required attachments”.
| Form B package | Maximum under Regulation s.4.4 |
|---|---|
| 40 pages | $35 + $10 = $45 |
| 120 pages | $35 + $30 = $65 |
| 300 pages | $35 + $75 = $110 |
| 580 pages | $35 + $145 = $180 |
Our arithmetic. 580 pages is the page count at which copying alone reaches the $145 in the Victoria letter.
The Province’s Form B page (published September 1, 2026) says the maximum a strata can charge is $35 plus up to 25 cents per page, and adds that “Sometimes a rush fee is charged by the strata corporation” when the Form B is requested with less than 7 days’ notice. The Act gives the strata one week to deliver. Neither the Act nor the Regulation lists a rush fee as a separate charge, so ask the strata which section it relies on before you pay one.
Who can ask, and how fast it must come
Section 59(1) says the strata must give the certificate within one week of a request by:
- an owner
- a purchaser
- a person authorized by an owner or a purchaser
So a buyer can ask directly. The one-week clock starts at the request, and a buyer who asks at the start of the deal, before subjects are removed, has no reason to need a rush.
What the Form B must show
As of its date, the certificate must disclose (s.59(3)):
- the monthly strata fees for the lot
- any amount the owner owes the strata
- agreements where the owner takes on costs of alterations
- special levies already approved, with the amount and due date
- any expected spending over this year’s budget
- the contingency reserve fund balance, minus spending already approved
- bylaw changes and resolutions passed but not yet filed at the Land Title Office
- any winding-up resolution
- notice of any 3/4, 80%, unanimous or bylaw vote not yet held
- court, arbitration and tribunal cases the strata is in, and judgments or orders against it
- outstanding notices or work orders
- parking stalls and storage lockers allocated to the lot
- a summary of the strata’s insurance
Attached: the rules, the current budget, the most recent depreciation report if any (s.59(4)), and every electrical planning report the strata has obtained (Form B, item (p)).
The court and tribunal line is the one that would have helped the Victoria buyers. Every case the strata is a party to must be listed.
What the certificate binds
The information in a Form B binds the strata in its dealings with a person who relied on it and acted reasonably (s.59(5)). There is one exception: the insurance summary does not bind the strata if the information came from its insurer or insurance agent (s.59(5.1)). An owner, the strata or a person affected by an inaccurate certificate can ask the BC Supreme Court for an order (s.59(6)).
The Act sets no expiry date for a Form B. It speaks as of its date, so a levy voted the next week will appear only on a new one. A Form F Certificate of Payment, which the Land Title Office needs before it registers a sale, works differently: it costs at most $15, must be given within one week, and is current for 60 days (s.115, s.256; Regulation s.6.10).
Minutes and other records
Minutes are outside the Form B’s required attachments. To read minutes, correspondence and past budgets, a buyer needs the seller’s written authorization. Section 36 then gives the strata 2 weeks to provide copies (1 week for bylaws and rules), at no more than 25 cents a page, and inspection itself is free. Our page on forms and records lists what a strata must keep and for how long.
In a self-managed small strata
In a duplex, triplex or fourplex with no manager, council fills out the Form B itself. The form is signed by a council member and a second council member, or by a strata manager the strata has authorized. In a strata with fewer than 4 lots, every owner is on council (Standard Bylaw 9(2)).
A few habits keep it fast and inside the cap:
- Keep a filled-in template and update it after each meeting, levy or insurance renewal.
- Keep the attachments in one folder: rules, current budget, insurance summary, and any depreciation or electrical planning report.
- Charge $35 plus 25 cents a page at most, and send it digitally where the buyer agrees.
- Keep a copy of every Form B you issue. Information certificates stay in the strata’s records for 6 years (Regulation s.4.1).
When the fee was too high
If a licensed strata manager charged the fee, you can report it to the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA), which licenses and disciplines strata managers. If the strata itself charged it and you are an owner, you can ask council for a hearing in writing (s.34.1) and then take the claim to the Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT), BC’s online tribunal for strata disputes. The filing fee is $125 online.
For buyers the cheaper fix is timing. Put “subject to satisfactory review of the Form B” in the offer and request it the same day. Our Form B guide has a checklist of what to read first, and our page on selling strata units covers the seller’s side.
We are building the StraPlex app for owners of 2 to 6 unit stratas, with the Form B filled in from your strata’s own records and the attachments ready to send within the week. The waitlist is below.
David Babakaiff, Co-Founder, VanPlex | PlexRank™ | Profit with Multiplex
