Removing an Interior Wall in a Vancouver Condo: Strata Approval

Three questions about the wall

Three items of Standard Bylaw 5(1) can apply to one wall. Each has its own question.

Is the wall part of the structure? Item (a) covers an alteration that involves the structure of a building. We treat a wall as structure when it holds up the floor or roof above it. The Act adds a legal right here. A strata lot is the Act's name for a unit. Under section 69, each strata lot and the common property have a right to vertical and sideways support from every strata lot that is capable of providing it. A wall in your unit that supports the unit above is part of that support.

What runs inside the wall? Item (f) covers common property inside the unit. Under section 1 of the Act, a pipe, wire or duct inside your unit is common property when it is capable of being used, and intended to be used, by another unit or the common property. A drain from the unit above meets that test. Wires and pipes that serve only your unit, inside a wall that stands wholly within your unit, fall outside it.

Did the developer build the wall? Item (g) covers the parts of the unit the strata must insure under section 149. That section names the buildings shown on the strata plan and the fixtures the developer installed, and section 9.1(1) of the regulation counts wall coverings as fixtures. We write every request for an original wall on the basis that item (g) applies.

Where section 70 applies

Section 70 of the Act deals with one type of wall: a wall that is a common boundary between adjoining strata lots, or between strata lots that have been consolidated into one. An owner may remove all or part of it with the strata's prior written approval. The strata must approve unless the removal fails to comply with a building regulation or a municipal bylaw, or interferes with utilities or other services to another unit or the common property.

A wall inside one unit is outside section 70. The request for it is decided under Standard Bylaw 5, which says the strata must not unreasonably withhold its approval and gives no list of grounds for a refusal.

Finding out what the wall does

Two sources tell you whether a wall is structure: the building's drawings and a structural engineer.

The strata holds the drawings. Section 20(2)(a) of the Act required the developer to give the strata all plans that were required to obtain the building permit. Section 4.1(7) of the regulation makes the strata keep them permanently. Section 36 of the Act gives an owner copies within 2 weeks of a request, and section 4.2 of the regulation limits the charge to 25 cents per page.

An engineer reads those drawings and looks at the wall itself. The Standard Bylaws are silent on which documents a council may ask for with a request, so ask your strata what it wants to see.

Our own practice is fixed. When a wall is to come out, we have a structural engineer look at it and put the findings in a signed letter, and we attach the letter to the request. If the wall carries load, the letter comes with the engineer's drawing of the beam and posts that will replace it.

What to put in the request

Describe the wall so that a council member who has never seen the unit can find it on the plan. Include:

Ask the City of Vancouver whether the work needs a building permit. For a wall between two strata lots, section 70(3) requires the owner to give the strata copies of any required building permits. For a wall inside one unit, ask the strata whether it wants a copy.

Ask the strata in writing whether the building has its own bylaw on moving walls, which hours apply to demolition, and how debris must be moved through the building.

• A floor plan showing the wall, with the part to be removed marked and measured.
• The engineer's letter, and the engineer's drawing if the wall carries load.
• Every pipe, wire and duct inside the wall, which unit each one serves, and where each will be moved to.
• What will be done to the floor, the ceiling and the nearby walls where the wall stood.
• The contractor documents your building lists, the planned dates, and how debris will leave the building.

Who repairs it later

Standard Bylaw 8(d) makes the strata responsible for repairing the structure of the building, including where it stands inside a unit. Standard Bylaw 2(1) gives the owner the rest of the unit.

A beam and posts that replace a wall carrying load then hold up the floor above. Ask the strata in writing who repairs them. If you sign an agreement under Bylaw 5(2), you take responsibility for expenses relating to the alteration, and the wording of the agreement decides how far that reaches.

Keep the engineer's letter, the drawings and photographs of the open ceiling in the file for the unit. Section 59(3)(c) of the Act requires the strata to disclose an agreement on alteration expenses on the Information Certificate, the form a strata gives a buyer on request.

How we take out a wall in a condo

We start with the drawings and the engineer, before any price is fixed. A wall that carries load changes the work, the request and the schedule.

Before demolition we look at the age of the building. WorkSafeBC says asbestos was used in BC as a building material until the early 1990s, that nobody can tell by looking whether a material contains it, and that a qualified asbestos professional should complete a survey where it is suspected. In a building of that age we arrange the survey before a wall is opened.

We open the wall in stages. The covering comes off first, so that every pipe, wire and duct can be seen and checked against the request. If something appears that the request left unnamed, we stop, and the owner writes to the strata before that part is touched.

Where the wall carries load, temporary supports go in first. The new beam is installed to the engineer's drawing before the old wall comes out.