What a Strata Can Ask For Before and During a Renovation in BC

The one condition the Standard Bylaws name

The Standard Bylaws name a single condition of approval. Under Bylaw 5(2), the strata may require "that the owner agree, in writing, to take responsibility for any expenses relating to the alteration". Bylaw 6(2) says the same for alterations to common property.

We searched the Standard Bylaws on October 4, 2026 for the other things owners are asked for. They contain no renovation deposit, no work hours, no contractor insurance requirement and no elevator booking. A building that asks for any of those has written it into its own bylaws, its rules or its alteration agreement.

The Act allows that. Section 119(2) says bylaws may provide for the control, management, maintenance, use and enjoyment of the strata lots and the common property. The Province's strata housing page says a building's bylaws may require written permission for changes to a unit, "often known as alteration agreements".

Bylaws and rules have a legal limit. Under section 121(1) of the Act, a bylaw is unenforceable to the extent that it contravenes the Act, the regulations, the Human Rights Code or any other law. Section 125(2) applies the same limit to rules.

Bylaws and rules: which one can set a condition

Bylaws and rules cover different things, and the difference decides where a condition has to be written.

A rule can govern only "the use, safety and condition of the common property and common assets" (Act, s. 125(1)). The Province's page puts the other half plainly: "Rules cannot govern the use of strata lots, only bylaws can do this." A condition about what happens inside your unit, such as which flooring you may install, has to be a bylaw. A condition about the elevator, the hallway or the loading area can be a rule.

The Province's page says a strata council can create a rule without consulting the owners. Section 125 then sets four requirements. The rule must be set out in a written document that can be photocopied. The strata must inform owners and tenants of a new rule as soon as feasible. The rule stops having effect at the first annual general meeting after it is made unless the owners ratify it by a majority vote. And if a rule conflicts with a bylaw, the bylaw prevails.

For an owner this gives two checks. Ask for the rule in writing, and ask whether it has been ratified at a general meeting.

Fees for using the elevator and other common property

A fee for using common property has its own legal test. Section 110 of the Act says a strata must not impose user fees for the use of common property other than as set out in the regulations.

Section 6.9(1) of the Strata Property Regulation sets two requirements, and both must be met. The amount of the fee must be reasonable. The fee must be set out in a bylaw, or in a rule that the owners have ratified. The Province's page on common property says the same: a strata "must ensure that the amount of the fee is reasonable and the fee is set out in either a bylaw or a rule that has been ratified". Its page on bylaws adds that a rule "cannot impose a user fee until it has been ratified by majority vote by owners".

Section 6.9(2) says how a fee may be worked out. It may be a fixed amount, or an amount set on a reasonable basis such as the user's rate of consumption, the recovery of the strata's operating or maintenance costs, the number of users, or the duration of use.

The Province's page lists elevators and hallways as usual common property in a condominium. If your building charges for an elevator booking during a renovation, ask which bylaw or ratified rule sets the fee.

What applies during the work, whatever the approval letter says

Three Standard Bylaws apply on every working day.

Bylaw 3(1) forbids using a unit or the common property in a way that causes a nuisance or hazard to another person, causes unreasonable noise, or unreasonably interferes with other people's right to use the common property. Bylaw 3 leaves hours and sound levels to each building's own bylaws and rules.

Bylaw 3(2) forbids causing damage, other than reasonable wear and tear, to the common property and to the parts of a unit the strata must repair or insure. A scraped elevator wall or a stained hallway carpet falls under it.

Bylaw 7 covers entry. A person authorized by the strata may enter the unit at a reasonable time, on 48 hours' written notice, to inspect, repair or maintain common property and the parts of the unit the strata must repair or insure. The notice must give the date, the approximate time and the reason. In an emergency, entry needs no notice. Tell your contractor, so that a person from the strata who arrives with a valid notice is let in.

Fines, repair costs, and the steps a strata must follow first

A strata has three ways to enforce a bylaw or rule under section 129(1) of the Act: a fine, remedying the contravention itself, and denying access to a recreational facility. Section 129(2) lets it give a warning or time to comply first. The warning is the strata's choice.

The owner is the person who can be fined. Section 130(1) lets the strata fine an owner when a bylaw or rule is contravened by a person the owner admitted to the premises for business reasons, and a contractor is such a person.

The amounts have legal maximums. Section 7.1 of the regulation lets a strata set fines in its bylaws of up to $200 for each contravention of a bylaw and $50 for each contravention of a rule, repeated at most every 7 days for a contravention that continues. A building still on the Standard Bylaws has lower figures in Bylaw 23: $50 and $10.

A repair bill can follow. Under section 133, the strata may do what is reasonably necessary to remedy a contravention, including work on the common property, and may require the reasonable costs to be paid by the person who can be fined.

Before a fine or a bill, section 135 requires three things. The strata must have received a complaint. It must have given the owner the particulars in writing and a reasonable opportunity to answer, including a hearing if the owner asks. And it must give written notice of its decision as soon as feasible.

What each building sets for itself

Everything in the table below is set building by building. We give no amounts or hours for them, because the Act and the Standard Bylaws set none. Get your building's version of each in writing.

Insurance documents and the WorkSafeBC clearance letter

Section 150 of the Act makes the strata corporation carry liability insurance "to insure the strata corporation against liability for property damage and bodily injury", and section 9.2 of the regulation sets the minimum at $2,000,000. That policy protects the strata corporation. What your contractor must carry is written in your building's bylaws or alteration agreement, so read the amount there and send the proof it names.

A clearance letter is a document from WorkSafeBC, the agency that runs workplace injury insurance in BC. WorkSafeBC's own page says: "A clearance letter confirms a business is registered with us and paying its premiums."

Anyone can look one up. WorkSafeBC's clearance letter application lets you search for a registered business by its account number or its precise legal or trade name, and you can save the letter as a PDF. A letter that describes a firm as "active and in good standing" is honoured up to a date shown in the body of the letter, so check that the date covers your working dates.

WorkSafeBC also gives owners a reason of their own to check. Its page for homeowners recommends confirming that a business is registered and paying before you hire it, and says that if it is not, "as a customer you could be held responsible for its premiums".

What to ask the strata manager before you sign a contract

Send these questions in one message and ask for the answers in writing. Each answer changes the schedule or the price of the work.

• Which bylaws and rules apply to renovations, and has each rule been ratified at a general meeting?
• Is there an alteration agreement or renovation form? Please send it.
• What insurance must the contractor show, in what amount, and in what form?
• Does the building want a WorkSafeBC clearance letter, and for which companies?
• Is there a deposit? Which bylaw or rule sets it, and when is it returned?
• On which days and between which hours may work take place? Are there separate hours for noisy work?
• How is the elevator booked, how much notice is needed, and is there a fee?
• Which entrance and route must materials and waste use, and what protection is required in the hallways?
• May a waste bin stand on the property, and where?

How we plan around a building's conditions

We ask for the building's bylaws, rules and alteration agreement before we quote, and we build the schedule from the hours and booking rules they contain. A building with shorter working days gets a longer schedule, and the quote says so.

We give every person who will work in the unit the building's hours, its route for materials and its waste arrangements before the first day. We send the insurance proof and the clearance letter the building lists with the owner's request.

We recommend photographing the hallway, the elevator and the route to the unit before work starts and after it ends, so that any question about damage can be answered from a record.