Replacing the Flooring in a Vancouver Condo: Strata Approval, Step by Step

Which bylaw items a flooring change touches

Three items of Standard Bylaw 5(1) can apply to a flooring job, and the first applies to every original floor.

Item (g) covers the parts of a unit the strata must insure under section 149 of the Strata Property Act. Section 149(1)(d) names fixtures the original developer built or installed, and section 9.1(1) of the Strata Property Regulation defines fixtures as "items attached to a building, including floor and wall coverings". Replacing an original floor therefore needs the strata's written approval before the work starts.

Item (a) is the structure of a building. Section 68(1) of the Act places the edge of a unit midway through the structural part of the floor, unless the strata plan shows another line. Cutting or grinding into that structural floor is item (a) work. A new covering laid on top of it leaves the structure as it was.

Item (f) is common property inside the unit. The Act's definition of common property includes pipes and wires for heating, water and electricity when they sit inside a floor that forms a boundary with another unit. If your building has heating pipes or wires inside the floor, a nail or screw driven into that floor can reach them. Ask the strata whether anything runs inside your floor before you choose a floor that is nailed or screwed down.

A floor that a previous owner installed

Item (g) refers to section 149 only, and section 149(1)(d) is limited to fixtures from the original construction. A floor that an earlier owner laid falls under section 152(b), which says the strata may insure such fixtures. On that wording, replacing a later floor is outside item (g) when the work touches nothing in items (a) to (f).

Check two things before you rely on that reading. The first is your building's own bylaws. The Province's strata housing page says bylaws may require written permission for "changing flooring", and a bylaw written that way applies to every floor, whoever laid it.

The second is the history of the current floor. Ask the strata in writing whether it holds an approval or an agreement for the floor in your unit. Section 59(3)(c) of the Act requires the Information Certificate, the form a strata gives an owner or a buyer on request, to disclose any agreement under which the owner takes responsibility for expenses relating to an alteration.

Noise to the unit below: Standard Bylaw 3

The approval covers the installation, and the noise rule applies on every day after it.

Standard Bylaw 3(1) says an owner, tenant, occupant or visitor must not use a unit in a way that causes unreasonable noise, causes a nuisance to another person, or unreasonably interferes with the rights of other persons to use and enjoy another unit. The bylaw gives no sound level and no list of floor types. A person in the unit below who is disturbed by footsteps on a hard floor can complain to the strata under it.

A strata enforces its bylaws with fines and with work to fix the contravention. Section 7.1 of the regulation limits a bylaw fine to $200 for each contravention, repeated at most every 7 days while the contravention continues. Section 133 of the Act lets the strata do what is reasonably necessary to remedy a contravention, including work on a unit, and charge the reasonable cost. Section 135 requires a complaint, written particulars and a chance to answer first.

What a building's flooring bylaw can cover

A flooring requirement for the inside of a unit has to be a bylaw. Section 125(1) of the Act limits rules to the common property, and the Province's page says only bylaws can govern the use of strata lots, the Act's name for the units.

Read the filed bylaws, then ask the strata in writing for its answer to each question below. Each answer is set by your building, because the Act and the Standard Bylaws leave these points open.

• Which rooms may have a hard floor such as wood, laminate, vinyl plank or tile?
• What must go under the new floor to reduce sound, and does the bylaw name a product, a thickness or a test result?
• What proof does the council want: the maker's product sheet, the maker's sound test data, or a test in the unit after installation?
• Does the bylaw require rugs or felt pads on a hard floor after it is installed?
• Does the council want to see the layer under the floor before it is covered?

What to put in the flooring request

Write the request so that a council member who has never seen the unit can follow it. Include:

• Each room, with the floor being removed and the floor being installed.
• Whether the current floor is original, and any approval the strata holds for it.
• The product sheets for the new floor and for the layer under it, with the maker's test data your bylaw asks for.
• How the floor is fixed: laid loose, glued, nailed or screwed. State that the structural floor will be left uncut, or describe any cutting or grinding.
• The contractor documents your building lists, the planned dates, and how the new materials and the old floor will move through the hallway and elevator.

Who repairs the floor later

Under Standard Bylaw 2(1) the owner repairs and maintains the unit, and that includes the new floor. Standard Bylaw 8(d) gives the strata the structure of the building inside a unit, so the structural floor under your flooring stays the strata's to repair.

Standard Bylaw 5(2) lets the strata require your written agreement to take responsibility for expenses relating to the alteration. Read the agreement for what happens if the strata has to lift part of the new floor to reach common property, and ask for that answer in writing.

Tell your insurance broker about the new floor. Section 161(1) of the Act lets an owner insure fixtures in the unit other than the original ones.

How we replace a condo floor

We read the building's bylaws and its flooring requirements before we recommend a product. The floor and the layer under it are chosen together, against the building's written requirement.

Before any old floor is lifted, we look at the age of the building. WorkSafeBC says asbestos was used in BC as a building material until the early 1990s, and that nobody can tell by looking whether a material contains it. In a building of that age, we have the old floor and its glue tested by a qualified person before removal.

On site we protect the hallway and the elevator in the way the building's rules set, and we move the old floor out during the hours the building allows. We photograph the layer under the floor before covering it, so the owner can show the strata what was installed.