Yaletown and the West End: What the City's Records Say Differs for a Condo Renovation

Two different boundaries

The West End is one of the City of Vancouver's 22 local areas, with a published boundary the City describes as fixed. Yaletown is absent from that list. The one boundary named Yaletown in the City's open data is its business improvement area, drawn for an association of property owners and business tenants, which the City says follows street or lane centrelines and is approximate. It lies inside the Downtown local area.

Every Yaletown count below is a count inside that business improvement area. Where a figure exists only by local area, the Downtown local area stands in for Yaletown and is labelled as such.

The figures side by side

One strata record in the City's 2026 property tax report is one strata lot, of any use. A property is one land coordinate, the first 8 digits of the BC Assessment folio number. The permit counts are Addition / Alteration building permits issued from January 3, 2017 to October 2, 2026. The heritage counts come from the City's heritage sites data, extract of March 24, 2023.

Age: two different decades

The West End's largest periods are the 1990s with 3,141 lots, the 1980s with 2,626 and the 1970s with 1,400. Yaletown's are the 1990s with 4,029 and the 2000s with 1,976; it has 165 lots from the 1980s, 318 from before 1950 and none from 1950 to 1979.

The before-1990 gap is the one that changes a plan. In the West End, 4,242 lots carry a year before 1990, which is 42.9 percent of 9,888. In Yaletown the figure is 483 of 6,581, or 7.3 percent, and 318 of those 483 are in buildings dated before 1950, all under the zoning code HA-3. For the Downtown local area as a whole the share is 5.4 percent (2,274 of 42,221).

The West End also has 772 lots with no year on the record, 7.8 percent of its total. Yaletown has none. Where the year is blank, the strata's records give the age.

Properties: 211 against 47

The West End's 9,888 lots are spread over 211 properties, an average of 46.9 lots per property. Yaletown's 6,581 sit on 47, an average of 140.0. The Downtown local area as a whole averages 142.6 lots per property across 296 properties. Each strata sets its own rules on elevators, deliveries and working hours in its bylaws, rules and alteration agreement, so in either area ask for them before dates are planned.

Permits: what the City has issued in each

From January 3, 2017 to October 2, 2026 the City issued 2,364 alteration permits in the West End local area, which ranks second of the 22 local areas, and 542 inside the Yaletown boundary. Yaletown has no rank of its own; the Downtown local area that contains it ranks first, with 7,206. The West End's yearly count ran from 301 in 2018 down to 197 in 2020 and back to 227 in 2025. Yaletown's ran from 84 in 2017 to 40 in 2025, with 37 issued in 2026 to October 2.

Permits that list Multiple Dwelling as a use are 1,361 of 2,364 in the West End (57.6 percent) and 188 of 542 in Yaletown (34.7 percent). The data leaves Multiple Dwelling undefined and has no field for strata or rental. A count of issued permits sets no rule about which work needs one.

Heritage register entries

The City's heritage sites data lists 135 heritage buildings in the West End local area and 30 inside the Yaletown boundary. Of the West End's 135, 39 carry a municipal designation (28.9 percent), 6 a heritage revitalization agreement and 3 an interior designation. Of Yaletown's 30, 11 carry a municipal designation (36.7 percent), 2 a heritage revitalization agreement, and 1, the CPR Roundhouse, a provincial designation.

A municipal designation matters to a unit owner because section 593 of the Vancouver Charter bars altering the exterior or the structure of a designated building, or an interior feature the designation by-law names, without a heritage alteration permit. In either area, the first question to the strata is whether the building is one of those designated.

Zoning codes

The tax report prints a zoning code on each record. The West End's 9,888 strata lots fall under 11 groups of code: numbered CD-1 districts (3,642 lots across 19 numbered districts), RM-5B (1,864), RM-5A (1,688), RM-5 (754), DD (676), RM-6 (437), C-6 (352), C-5A (209), RM-5D (207), RM-5C (36) and C-5 (23). Yaletown's 6,581 fall under three: numbered CD-1 districts (3,059 lots across 6 numbered districts), DD (2,923) and HA-3 (599).

DD is the one code that appears on strata lots in both areas; no numbered CD-1 district is shared. The City's zoning map classes HA-3 as a Historical Area. Each code has a district schedule in the City's Zoning and Development By-law, which the City publishes, and this page states no rule from any schedule.

What the differences change for an owner

The law is the same in both areas: the Standard Bylaws require the strata's written approval for the alterations listed in Bylaw 5(1), section 20.112 of BC's Occupational Health and Safety Regulation requires a hazardous materials inspection before renovation in a building of any age, and the City of Vancouver issues the permits. The records change two things: what the inspection is likely to find, and which strata reports to read first.

• The inspection. WorkSafeBC says a home built before 1990 is likely to contain some asbestos that renovation work could release, and names drywall, textured ceiling coat, insulation, vinyl flooring and window putty. That describes 4,242 West End lots and 483 Yaletown lots. In a building dated 1990 or later the inspection still happens, and its report still decides what can be disturbed.
• The depreciation report. A strata with five or more lots must obtain one on a five-year cycle, and the regulation requires it to describe the building's plumbing, electrical and other systems with an estimated service life over 30 years. In a 1970s or 1980s building, read it for planned pipe and wiring work before you choose a layout.
• The electrical planning report. The Province requires a Metro Vancouver strata with five or more lots to obtain one by December 31, 2026. It shows spare electrical capacity before you add a heat pump, an induction range or in-suite laundry, and the Province says a qualified professional still confirms capacity for the equipment chosen.
• The heritage by-law. Where the strata says the building is designated (39 register buildings in the West End, 11 in Yaletown), read the designation by-law before planning windows, exterior doors or structural changes.
• The blank year. For 772 West End lots the tax record carries no year built, so the strata's records give the building's age before the inspection is arranged.