Buying a Condo to Renovate in BC: What to Read in the Strata Documents

The documents, and who can ask for each one

A buyer can get the Information Certificate directly from the strata. Most other records come through the seller, because the Act gives access to owners and to people an owner has authorized in writing.

The table shows what the Strata Property Act and its regulation say about each document.

Ask for everything in the first days after your offer is accepted. The longest deadline in the table is 2 weeks, so a late request can arrive after your conditions are due.

The bylaws and rules: what the building allows

Read the bylaws for the renovation you have in mind before you read anything else. They decide whether the work is allowed and on what terms.

Look for four subjects. The first is alterations: which work needs written approval, and whether the building uses its own application form or alteration agreement. The second is flooring: the Province's page on bylaws names changing flooring as work a building's bylaws may require written permission for, so read what yours ask for. The third is working days and hours. The fourth is the rules for the common property a renovation uses: the elevator, the loading area, the hallways and moving.

Make sure you have the current text. Bylaws that differ from the Standard Bylaws are filed at the Land Title Office, and the Information Certificate must disclose any amendments to the bylaws that are not yet filed (Act s. 59(3)(g)). It must also disclose any notice given for a resolution that deals with a bylaw amendment and has not been voted on (s. 59(3)(i)). A flooring bylaw that the owners are about to vote on would appear there.

The Information Certificate (Form B)

The Information Certificate is the one strata document the Act gives directly to a buyer. Section 59(1) requires the strata to provide it within one week of a request by an owner, a purchaser or a person authorized by either.

You count as a purchaser once you have entered into an agreement to buy the unit. The Province's page on Form B notes that the Act does not require that agreement to be unconditional or free of subjects. Subjects are the conditions written into an offer.

The fee has a legal maximum of $35 plus copying at up to 25 cents per page (Regulation s. 4.4). The Province's page adds that a rush fee is sometimes charged when the form is requested with less than 7 days' notice.

For a buyer who plans to renovate, these are the lines to read first:

The certificate binds the strata. Under section 59(5), the information disclosed in it is binding on the strata corporation in its dealings with a person who relied on the certificate and acted reasonably in doing so. Section 59(5.1) makes one exception, for insurance information that the strata obtained from its insurer or insurance agent.

• Agreements under which the owner takes responsibility for expenses relating to alterations (s. 59(3)(c)).
• Special levies already approved, with the date each payment is due (s. 59(3)(d)). A special levy is money the strata raises from the owners on top of the monthly fees.
• The amount in the contingency reserve fund, the strata's fund for expenses that come up less often than once a year, minus spending already approved (s. 59(3)(f)).
• Notices or work orders that remain outstanding for the unit, the common property or the common assets (s. 59(3)(k)).
• Court, arbitration or tribunal proceedings in which the strata is a party (s. 59(3)(j)).
• The summary of the strata's insurance coverage (s. 59(3)(l.2)).

Why agreements on earlier alterations matter

An entry under section 59(3)(c) tells you two things: an earlier owner altered something with the strata's approval, and that owner signed for the expenses relating to it.

Ask for the agreement itself. The Province's page lists these agreements among the documents that may be required as attachments to the Form B. Read which parts it names and whether it covers later repairs, then ask your lawyer or notary whether it will apply to you as the next owner.

Check further when that line is blank and the unit has plainly been changed. Compare the unit with the strata plan and with the other units of the same layout. If the kitchen has moved or a wall is gone, ask the seller in writing for the strata's approval letter for that work. If no letter exists, tell your lawyer or notary before you remove your conditions.

Minutes, correspondence and the depreciation report

These records come through the seller. Section 36(1) makes the strata provide its records to an owner and to a person authorized in writing by an owner, so ask the seller for a signed authorization or ask the seller to request them. The strata must comply within 2 weeks (s. 36(3)). Inspection is free and copies cost at most 25 cents per page (Regulation s. 4.2).

Section 35 lists what the strata must keep. The list includes minutes of council meetings and general meetings with the results of any votes, correspondence sent or received by the strata and the council, depreciation reports, and engineers' reports on the repair or maintenance of major items. Under section 4.1 of the regulation, a strata must keep the minutes for at least 6 years and its depreciation reports permanently.

A depreciation report estimates the repair and replacement cost of the building's major items and their expected life (Act s. 94(2)). Section 6.2(2)(b) of the regulation requires it to describe those items and estimate their service life over 30 years. The listed items include the building's plumbing, electrical, heating and ventilation systems, and its roofs, doors, windows and skylights. The Province's depreciation report page says stratas with five or more strata lots must obtain one on a five-year cycle.

What we look for in the minutes

The minutes show how the council has treated other owners' renovations and what work the building is planning. When an owner asks us to look at a unit before buying, these are the entries we search for:

The fourth item changes the order of your own work. Standard Bylaw 7 lets a person authorized by the strata enter a unit on 48 hours' written notice to repair common property. If the building is about to replace pipes inside the walls, finishing a new bathroom before that work means the new tile may be opened. Ask the strata manager in writing for the planned dates, and schedule the renovation after them.

• Renovation requests from other owners, and whether the council approved them, set conditions or refused.
• Complaints about noise from hard floors, and what the council did in response.
• Water leaks, their cause, and whether the strata claimed on its insurance.
• Discussion of replacing the building's water pipes or drains.
• Discussion of replacing windows, balcony doors or the building's exterior.
• Engineers' reports the council has ordered or received.
• Special levies that have been proposed and are waiting for a vote.

The strata plan: what is part of the unit

The strata plan is the registered drawing of the building. It shows each strata lot, the common property and any limited common property, which is common property designated for the exclusive use of one or more units.

Section 68(1) of the Act sets the default boundary. Unless the plan shows otherwise, a unit's boundary is midway between the surface of the structural part of the wall, floor or ceiling that faces the unit and the surface that faces the neighbouring unit or the common property.

Check three things on the plan. Is the balcony, patio or roof deck part of the unit, limited common property or common property? Does the plan match the walls you see in the unit? Are the storage locker and the parking stall part of the unit, or are they allocated to it? The Information Certificate must state which parking stalls and storage lockers have been allocated to the unit (s. 59(3)(l.1)).

Limited common property can also be created after the plan is filed. Under section 74, the owners can designate it by a resolution passed by a 3/4 vote, filed at the Land Title Office with a sketch plan. The Province's page says the Land Title Office keeps a general index for every strata corporation, and that it is a good idea to review the information available there.

The rescission period, and who should review the documents

BC gives a buyer a short period to withdraw from an accepted offer. The BC Financial Services Authority says on its page about the Home Buyer Rescission Period that a buyer has the right to rescind within three business days after the offer is accepted, and that weekends and holidays are excluded from the count. The page lists residential strata lots among the property types covered.

The same page says a buyer who rescinds must notify the seller in writing before the period expires and pay the seller a rescission fee of 0.25% of the offer price. It also says the right cannot be waived by the buyer or the seller.

Three business days is shorter than the one week the strata has to produce a Form B. Ask your real estate licensee and your lawyer or notary how the conditions in your offer should be written so that you have the documents before you are committed.

Have a lawyer or notary review the strata documents and the contract. We can read the bylaws, the rules and the minutes for what they mean for the renovation: whether the work you want is allowed, what the building will ask for, and what building work is coming.