VANPLEX
David Babakaiff
Written by David Babakaiff · Co-Founder, VanPlex | 25+ Years BC Construction Last reviewed: October 2026

StraPlex

Stratify your plex. Then run the strata with your neighbours.

StraPlex is an app for buildings of 2 to 6 units in British Columbia. It takes you from one title to separate strata titles, and then helps the owners run the strata corporation the law creates. The app is in development. The guide below is free and open now: 59 pages on the BC rules for small stratas, each with its sources.

Join the waitlist

Tell us where you are. People on the list get access first.

Which one is you?

We email you when the app opens. No spam, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

What the app will do

Step 1

Turn your plex into strata titles

  • •Find your path: a new empty building, a building people already live in, or an older duplex.
  • •The documents in order: surveyor certificate, strata plan, unit entitlement, bylaws, Land Title Office filing.
  • •The city rules and 2026 fees where you build.
  • •The duties you take on as owner developer when you sell the first unit.

Step 2

Run the strata with your neighbours

  • •A yearly budget with at least 10% going to the contingency reserve fund.
  • •AGM dates, notices and the written-agreement option for small buildings.
  • •Records kept for the time the law sets, and Form B and Form F when a unit sells.
  • •Insurance renewal dates and the notice owners must get when a deductible goes up.

These are the features planned for the first version. The list can change before launch, and the waitlist hears about changes first.

Why small stratas need their own guide

The Strata Property Act changes at 4 lots, at 5 lots and at 10 lots, so a duplex, a fourplex and a sixplex each follow a different set of rules. This table shows the main ones. The rules by size page explains each row.

Rule 2 lots 3 lots 4 lots 5 lots 6 lots
Council Both owners All owners 3 to 7 elected* 3 to 7 elected 3 to 7 elected
Quorum at a meeting 2/3 of votes 2/3 of votes 1/3 of votes* 1/3 of votes 1/3 of votes
Yes votes for a 3/4 vote (all present) 2 of 2 3 of 3 3 of 4 4 of 5 5 of 6
Depreciation report Exempt Exempt Exempt Required Required
Electrical planning report Exempt Exempt Exempt Required Required
REDMA disclosure to sell new lots No No No Yes Yes
Court order to wind up Not needed Not needed Not needed Needed Needed

* With 4 lots but fewer than 4 owners (one person owns two units), every owner is on council and quorum is 2/3. Sources: Strata Property Act s.1, s.48 and s.274; Standard Bylaw 9; Strata Property Regulation s.5.8 and s.6.22; Real Estate Development Marketing Act s.1. Checked October 29, 2026.

Every page in the guide

STRATIFY YOUR PLEX

How to Stratify
The full path from one title to separate strata titles for a new duplex to sixplex: surveyor, forms S, U, V, X and Y, lenders, the Land Title Office, and the first sale.
Can I Stratify?
Four starting points and the path for each: a new empty building, a new building someone moved into, an older duplex, and a house with a suite or laneway home.
Before Move-In
A building that was ever lived in needs city approval to become a strata. A new, empty building needs only a surveyor's certificate. How to stay on the easy path.
Strata Conversion
Converting a lived-in duplex or plex under section 242: council approval, tenant consent, building code upgrades and the 2026 fee in each city.
Strata Plan
What a strata plan shows, the forms filed with it, how to read one, and how to find your strata plan number and get a copy.
Unit Entitlement
The three legal ways to set each unit's share, how the share sets every fee, and why changing it later needs a unanimous vote and the Superintendent.
Limited Common Property
Yards, decks, parking and roofs: how to give each unit its own area on the strata plan, who repairs it, and what it takes to change later.
Bylaws Before Sale
Until the second AGM, changing a bylaw needs every owner to agree. What a duplex to sixplex should put in its own bylaws before the first sale.
Cost to Stratify
Every fee with a public source: Land Title Office, Superintendent, city conversion fees for 2026, REDMA filing, and what the surveyor and lawyer charges depend on.
Timeline
From building permit to first AGM: the steps in order, the 180-day certificate window, and the clocks that start at the first sale.
Owner Developer
If you build and sell the units, the Act makes you the owner developer: interim budget, reserve fund, first AGM, handover documents and the penalties for each.
Selling Units
Home warranty, REDMA at 5 lots, the 3-day rescission period, Form B and Form F, and the GST, transfer tax and flipping tax rules that apply to each sale.
Rental Then Strata
A rental covenant can block unit sales for 10 years, a rental tax exemption can be lost, and tenants mean a conversion. What to decide before anyone moves in.
Suites and Laneways
City by city: which secondary suites, laneway homes, coach houses and garden suites can have their own title, and which never can.
Title Choices
The five ways to hold a multiplex in BC, what each one needs from the city, and which one lets owners sell and borrow on their own.
Bare Land Strata
What a bare land strata is, how it differs from a building strata, who insures the homes, and why it needs an approving officer.
Duplex Strata
Are duplexes strata, do they pay strata fees, and how two owners run a strata corporation with no tie-break vote.
Family Plex
Parents and children in one multiplex: when strata titles help, when co-ownership is simpler, and the REDMA rule for selling 2 or more shares.

STRATA BY CITY

Vancouver
How Vancouver handles strata plans for new multiplexes and conversions of occupied buildings: the 2026 fee, who decides, tenant rules and which units can be their own strata lot.
Burnaby
How Burnaby handles strata plans for new multiplexes and conversions of occupied buildings: the 2026 fee, who decides, tenant rules and which units can be their own strata lot.
Surrey
How Surrey handles strata plans for new multiplexes and conversions of occupied buildings: the 2026 fee, who decides, tenant rules and which units can be their own strata lot.
Richmond
How Richmond handles strata plans for new multiplexes and conversions of occupied buildings: the 2026 fee, who decides, tenant rules and which units can be their own strata lot.
Coquitlam
How Coquitlam handles strata plans for new multiplexes and conversions of occupied buildings: the 2026 fee, who decides, tenant rules and which units can be their own strata lot.
City of North Vancouver
How City of North Vancouver handles strata plans for new multiplexes and conversions of occupied buildings: the 2026 fee, who decides, tenant rules and which units can be their own strata lot.
Victoria
How Victoria handles strata plans for new multiplexes and conversions of occupied buildings: the 2026 fee, who decides, tenant rules and which units can be their own strata lot.
Saanich
How Saanich handles strata plans for new multiplexes and conversions of occupied buildings: the 2026 fee, who decides, tenant rules and which units can be their own strata lot.
Kelowna
How Kelowna handles strata plans for new multiplexes and conversions of occupied buildings: the 2026 fee, who decides, tenant rules and which units can be their own strata lot.
Abbotsford
How Abbotsford handles strata plans for new multiplexes and conversions of occupied buildings: the 2026 fee, who decides, tenant rules and which units can be their own strata lot.
Nanaimo
How Nanaimo handles strata plans for new multiplexes and conversions of occupied buildings: the 2026 fee, who decides, tenant rules and which units can be their own strata lot.
Port Coquitlam
How Port Coquitlam handles strata plans for new multiplexes and conversions of occupied buildings: the 2026 fee, who decides, tenant rules and which units can be their own strata lot.
Port Moody
How Port Moody handles strata plans for new multiplexes and conversions of occupied buildings: the 2026 fee, who decides, tenant rules and which units can be their own strata lot.

RUNNING A SMALL STRATA

Strata Corporation
Every strata plan creates a corporation of all the owners. What it owns, what it must do, and its bank account, records and tax filings.
Strata Council
Who sits on council, how it votes, whether members get paid, how to resign or remove a member, and when every owner is on council.
Strata Fees
What strata fees cover, how unit entitlement splits the bill, how fees go up, and why the first-year budget is often too low.
Budget and CRF
The 10% minimum, how a small strata builds its first budget, and what council may and may not spend the contingency reserve fund on.
Special Levy
How a special levy is approved, how it is split, when it is due, and who pays when a unit is sold before the levy is paid.
Bylaws
Rental restrictions are gone province-wide. Short-term rental limits are allowed. How bylaws change and what the vote math is at each size.
AGM and Meetings
When the AGM must happen, how much notice, quorum at each size, meeting online, and how every owner can agree in writing instead.
Form B
What Form B shows, the $35 fee limit, the one-week deadline, how a self-managed strata makes one, and how long it stays useful.
Forms and Records
Form F, Form C, Form I and Form K, and the records a strata must keep, for how long, and what owners can ask to see.
Insurance
What the strata must insure, what your own policy covers, and how section 158 lets the strata recover a deductible from the owner responsible.
Repairs
Owner repairs, strata repairs and limited common property under the Standard Bylaws, and what counts as an alteration that needs approval.
Depreciation Report
Exempt under 5 lots, required at 5 and 6. The 2024 changes, who may prepare one, the deadlines, and what to do instead when you are exempt.
Deadlock
No tie-break, no court override of one holdout under 10 lots. The tools that do exist: tribunal, court, arbitration and an administrator.
Disputes and CRT
How the Civil Resolution Tribunal handles strata disputes, what it costs, what it cannot decide, and what it has ruled in duplex cases.
Self-Managed
What self-managed means, what a licensed strata manager does, and what a 2 to 6 unit strata must handle itself either way.
First Year
Bank account, budget, insurance, records, warranty dates and the first AGM: what new owners of a small strata must set up in year one.
EV Charging
Majority vote for charging changes, owner requests from December 31, 2026 for stratas under 5 lots, and the electrical planning report at 5 and 6.
Taxes
Does a strata corporation file a tax return, and can owners deduct strata fees? What the Canada Revenue Agency says.
Winding Up
Ending a strata of fewer than 5 lots: the 80% vote, lender consent, and why no court order is needed below 5 lots.

Questions

What is StraPlex? +

StraPlex is an app VanPlex is building for buildings of 2 to 6 units in British Columbia. It helps owners turn the building into strata titles, and then helps the owners run the strata corporation: the budget, the contingency reserve fund, meetings, records, forms and insurance dates. This guide is the free part, and it is open now.

When does the app open, and what does it cost? +

There is no launch date or price yet. People on the waitlist hear first, and joining the waitlist is free.

What is a strata in BC? +

A strata is land and buildings divided into strata lots, each with its own title, plus common property that all owners share. The owners together form a strata corporation, created the day the strata plan is deposited at the Land Title Office (Strata Property Act s.2 and s.239).

Can I turn my duplex or fourplex into strata titles? +

Usually yes, but the path depends on whether anyone has lived in the building. A new building that nobody has occupied needs a BC land surveyor certificate (Form S). A building that was ever occupied, for any purpose, needs approval from the city under section 242, and cities set their own tenant and building rules.

Do duplexes have strata fees? +

A duplex that is a strata has a strata corporation, and the corporation must have a budget, insurance and a contingency reserve fund with at least 10% of the operating budget each year. The owners pay those costs as strata fees, split by unit entitlement. A duplex on one title has no strata and no strata fees.

Does a small strata need a depreciation report? +

Not while it has fewer than 5 strata lots (Strata Property Regulation s.6.22). A 5-unit or 6-unit strata must get one at least every 5 years.

Can one owner block a decision in a small strata? +

In a 2-unit or 3-unit strata, yes for any 3/4 vote, because a 3/4 vote needs 3/4 of the votes cast. In a 4-unit strata, 3 votes out of 4 pass a 3/4 vote. For a unanimous vote, one owner can block it at any size under 10 lots, because the court override in section 52 applies only to stratas of 10 lots or more.

Who is the app for? +

Owners building a duplex to sixplex they plan to sell as separate units, owners of an older duplex or house who want separate titles, people who own a unit in a small strata, and the REALTORS®, lawyers, notaries, land surveyors and builders who work with them.

Does a small strata need a property manager? +

No. A strata can manage itself with its council doing the work. A person paid to manage a strata for others must be licensed as a strata manager. Either way, the corporation must follow the Strata Property Act.

Is this legal advice? +

No. These pages explain the rules as they are written in the Strata Property Act, the Strata Property Regulation and city documents, with the date each was checked. Confirm your own case with a BC lawyer or notary and a BC land surveyor.

Related VanPlex guides

Official Sources

Strata Property Act (SBC 1998, c. 43) on BC Laws
https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/98043_00
Strata Housing, Province of British Columbia
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/housing-tenancy/strata-housing
Civil Resolution Tribunal
https://civilresolutionbc.ca/
Strata Property Regulation (B.C. Reg. 43/2000) on BC Laws
https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/43_2000
Schedule of Standard Bylaws on BC Laws
https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/98043_18
Real Estate Development Marketing Act on BC Laws
https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/04041_01

StraPlex waitlist

Join the StraPlex waitlist

One app for 2 to 6 owners: the steps and documents to get your strata titles, then the budget, reserve fund, meetings, records and insurance dates once the strata exists. Join the waitlist and get access first.

Which one is you?

We email you when the app opens. No spam, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

General information, not tax or legal advice. Tax rules and legal requirements change and depend on your specific situation. Confirm current rules with a CPA and a BC real estate lawyer before making a decision.