Strata, Bare Land, Separate Lots or Co-Ownership?

A building strata is the option most of this hub covers. When the strata plan is deposited at the Land Title Office, the land becomes 2 or more strata lots, and a strata corporation named "The Owners, Strata Plan [number]" exists from that moment (s.239, s.2). The land must be one parcel in the applicant's name (s.240). The plan shows the land, the buildings and each lot's area in square metres, and it is signed by the applicant and by every holder of a registered charge, such as a mortgage lender (s.244).

In a building, a lot's boundary sits halfway through the wall, floor or ceiling it shares with the next lot or with common property, unless the plan shows another line. Each owner owns their lot plus a share of the common property set by unit entitlement. Costs are split the same way, and the strata must insure the buildings at full replacement value and carry at least $2,000,000 of liability insurance. Each lot has one vote, and a 3/4 vote in a 2 or 3 lot strata needs every owner. The how to stratify page walks through each step.

The lot lines are set by survey markers on the ground (s.1), so each strata lot is a piece of land. An approving officer must approve the plan before it is deposited (s.243). The strata does not insure fixtures on the lots (s.149(3)), and owners may insure the buildings on their own lots (s.161(2)). The Province says the owner of a bare land strata lot is responsible for the insurance, repair and maintenance of the buildings on it.

It suits separate houses that share a road, a water system or other common property. The bare land strata page compares it with a building strata in detail.

Here the land itself is divided. An approving officer must approve the subdivision plan (Land Title Act s.91), and each home ends up on its own lot and title. Burnaby's Stratification of Property guide (May 2026) calls fee simple ownership "freehold" ownership, the same model as a single-family home, where the land and the buildings stay one real estate entity. It describes a fee simple rowhouse as one of at least 2 side-by-side homes, each sharing a party wall with the next and each on its own fee simple lot, and calls fee simple rowhousing an alternative to strata ownership.

Two Burnaby limits follow. Homes on fee simple rowhouse lots are not eligible for stratification, and a secondary suite on such a lot cannot be stratified and sold on its own. With no strata plan, there is no strata corporation, no strata fees and no strata bylaws. Any wall the homes share is a matter between the neighbours. Our guide to party wall agreements covers what those agreements contain, and freehold vs strata for a half duplex compares the two for side-by-side homes.

An air space parcel is a parcel of space, created by an air space plan under Part 9 of the Land Title Act (s.141). A BC land surveyor prepares the plan and the approving officer must approve it (s.144(2)). An air space parcel can itself be stratified (s.141(3)).

For a plex, the use we found in our sources is BC Housing's rental exemption: rental units in a mixed-use building must be in a separate air space parcel. How lenders and buyers treat a small residential air space parcel is not covered by our sources, so ask a BC land surveyor and a lawyer whether it fits your project.

With co-ownership, nobody owns a specific unit on title. Each person owns an undivided share of the whole property. It needs no strata plan. In return, none of the Strata Property Act's rules on fees, votes, insurance or disputes apply, and our sources set no other statute in their place. Ask a lawyer about a written agreement among the co-owners.

REDMA is the rule our sources do cover. Its definition of a development property includes 2 or more shared interests in land in the same parcel (s.1). A strata lot sale is caught only at 5 or more lots, but a sale of shares is caught at 2. Ask a lawyer whether your sale of shares is caught before you market it.

The Strata Property Act uses tenancy in common at the end of a strata's life too. An 80% vote can cancel the strata plan and convert the owners to tenants in common, with a schedule based on assessed values (s.272, s.273). Under 5 lots no court order is needed if every registered lender consents in writing (s.274(c)). The family plex page looks at co-ownership among relatives.

People search "strata title vs freehold" as if the two were opposites. In BC law a strata lot can be freehold. The Act defines an owner as the person registered as owner of a freehold estate in a strata lot (s.1). The other kind of strata is leasehold: the land is under a ground lease and the "owner" is a leasehold tenant (s.199). The Province says strata developments can be either freehold or leasehold.

So the useful question is whether you want a strata corporation. A freehold strata lot comes with strata fees, bylaws, a council and shared insurance. A freehold home on its own fee simple lot comes with none of those. You cannot tell which one a building is by looking at it. A title search shows a strata plan number in the legal description of a strata lot.