StraPlex for REALTORS®, Lawyers, Surveyors and Builders

Rules that matter to your work

• →Form B, the Information Certificate, is due within 1 week of a request by an owner, a buyer or someone they authorize, for at most $35 plus 25 cents a page (s.59; Regulation s.4.4). The Province notes that a rush fee is sometimes charged when less than 7 days' notice is given.
• →Form B states the facts as of its date and has no expiry date in the Act. It must include an insurance summary (since April 1, 2023) and attach the rules, the current budget, the latest depreciation report and any electrical planning report (s.59(3), (4)). An insurance summary taken from the insurer or agent does not bind the strata (s.59(5.1)).
• →Form F, the Certificate of Payment, is due within 1 week, costs at most $15, and is current for 60 days. A sale cannot be registered without one (s.115, s.256; Regulation s.6.10).
• →A special levy approved before the sale is split by due date: the seller owes the parts due before the conveyance date, the buyer owes the rest (s.109).
• →A strata cannot restrict long-term rentals (s.141). It can limit short-term rentals by bylaw.
• →A strata with fewer than 5 lots has no duty to get a depreciation report (Regulation s.6.22). Where the Real Estate Development Marketing Act's own right to cancel does not apply, buyers of a residential strata lot have the 3-business-day Home Buyer Rescission Period, with a fee of 0.25% of the price to rescind (Property Law Act s.42; Home Buyer Rescission Period Regulation s.4, s.6).

Rules that matter to your work

• →The plan must carry the signatures of the applicant and of every holder of a registered charge, such as a mortgage lender (s.244).
• →Bylaws that differ from the Standard Bylaws are filed with the plan on Form Y (s.245). In an all-residential or bare land strata they cannot change before the second annual general meeting without a unanimous vote (s.127), so the first set matters for years.
• →The Real Estate Development Marketing Act (REDMA) applies to 5 or more strata lots in a building, and to 2 or more shared interests in land in the same parcel (REDMA s.1). It requires a filed disclosure statement before marketing, deposits held in a brokerage, lawyer or notary trust account, and a 7-day right to rescind. The filing fee is $2,250 for fewer than 10 units.
• →A buyer from the owner developer holds back 7% of the price for up to 55 days, and liens against the lot must be filed within 45 days of the sale (s.88; Regulation s.5.2). An amendment to s.88 passed in 2025 is not in force.
• →The Province says a strata of more than 7 lots must file bylaw changes electronically through a subscriber, such as a lawyer, notary or land surveyor.
• →Winding up takes an 80% vote of all eligible voters. With fewer than 5 lots, the written consent of every registered charge holder and a Certificate of Strata Corporation can replace the court order (s.272, s.274).

Rules that matter to your work

• →For a building nobody has occupied, the surveyor certifies that on Form S, dated no more than 180 days before the plan is tendered (s.241). "Previously occupied" means occupied at any time for any purpose, except a developer's display lot (Regulation s.14.1).
• →A previously occupied building needs the approving authority's endorsement on Form T, also dated no more than 180 days before tender (s.242).
• →The plan shows each lot's area in square metres, and a surveyor endorses on Form U that the buildings are inside the boundaries (s.244). Parking stalls and storage cannot be separate strata lots (s.244(2)).
• →If unit entitlement is set by habitable area, a surveyor sets it in square metres, rounded to a whole number, and certifies it (s.245, s.246). Habitable area leaves out patios, balconies, garages, parking stalls and storage, except closets (Regulation s.14.2). The Superintendent of Real Estate charges $200 to approve a schedule when approval is needed (Regulation s.14.8).
• →A bare land strata plan sets lot boundaries by survey markers and needs approving officer approval before it is deposited (s.1, s.243).
• →City rules decide what can be a lot. Vancouver, Burnaby and Coquitlam say a secondary suite cannot be stratified, and the City of North Vancouver's zoning bars stratifying a coach house or an accessory dwelling unit in a duplex.

Rules that matter to your work

• →A new home must be enrolled in home warranty insurance before it is built, with at least 2 years on materials and labour, 5 years on the building envelope and 10 years on structure (Homeowner Protection Act s.22).
• →An owner builder cannot build a multiplex. The owner builder route covers a detached home on one title, or one unit in or attached to an existing building (Homeowner Protection Act Regulation s.19).
• →The rental exemption from licensing and warranty puts a covenant on title that bars selling any unit for 10 years from first occupancy (Regulation s.2(2), (2.1)). A building that was rented or lived in before the plan is filed needs the city's approval under s.242.
• →Before the first annual general meeting, the owner developer acts as council, pays all expenses to the end of the month of the first sale, gives each buyer an interim budget before they sign, and puts at least 10% of the interim operating budget into the contingency reserve fund at the first sale (s.5 to s.14; Regulation s.3.01).
• →The first annual general meeting is due within 6 weeks of the earlier of 50% plus one of the lots sold or 9 months after the first sale, with a $1,000 penalty for up to 30 days late and $1,000 more for each further 7 days (s.16, s.17; Regulation s.3.1). Insurance must run until at least 4 weeks after it (s.15). The owner developer hands over plans, contracts, warranties and records at it (s.20).
• →For a strata established on or after July 1, 2027, the owner developer pays toward the first depreciation report the lesser of $5,000 plus $200 a lot, or $30,000, by the first annual general meeting (Regulation s.6.23). A strata with fewer than 5 lots has no duty to get a depreciation report (s.6.22).

Rules that matter to your work

• →"Strata management services" means collecting or holding strata fees and levies, or using powers council has handed over, such as paying bills, signing contracts, supervising contractors and enforcing bylaws. Anyone who does this for another person for pay needs a licence, and a strata management company must be a licensed brokerage with a managing broker (Real Estate Services Act s.1, s.3).
• →The BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) licenses and disciplines strata managers under the Real Estate Services Act.
• →An owner can do strata management work for their own strata without a licence, for up to 2 strata corporations, and must pass any money received to the strata promptly (Real Estate Services Regulation s.2.17).
• →The strata can cancel a management contract on 2 months' notice after a 3/4 vote (s.39). The manager must return the strata's records within 4 weeks, or pay the strata $1,000 (s.37; Regulation s.4.3).
• →Form B and Form F stay the strata's duty with or without a manager: 1 week each, at most $35 plus 25 cents a page and $15 (s.59, s.115).