How to Read Strata Documents When Buying a Condo in BC
When you buy a condo or townhouse, the real homework isn’t the 30-minute viewing — it’s the document package that arrives a few days before subject removal. Strata documents run to hundreds of pages, and many buyers give up after page two. But the building’s financial health, the repairs coming down the road, and your risk of a special levy are all in there. Here is the order to read them in, and what to look for in each.
1. The Form B Information Certificate: start here
- What it is: the strata corporation’s official disclosure, provided within 7 days of a request; the fee is capped at $35 plus up to 25 cents per page for copies.
- The five lines that matter: the monthly strata fee for the unit; any amount the current owner owes; any special levy already approved and when it’s due; whether this year’s spending is expected to exceed budget; and the contingency reserve fund (CRF) balance, minus approved-but-unspent amounts.
- The attachments matter too: the strata’s rules, current budget, most recent depreciation report, electrical planning reports and an insurance summary — the insurance deductible, which can run to tens or hundreds of thousands, is the risk buyers most often miss.
2. The depreciation report: the building’s next 30 years
- What it is: a professional forecast of when major components — roof, envelope, elevators, plumbing — will need replacement over 30 years, what it will cost, and how the CRF should be funded to pay for it.
- The new rules: since July 2024, stratas with five or more lots must renew the report every five years and can no longer vote to waive it; existing stratas in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and the Capital Region hit their first new-rules deadline on July 1, 2026.
- How to read it: line up the big-ticket items due in the next five years against the CRF balance and the funding model the strata is actually following. A building contributing only the legal minimum (since November 2023, at least 10% of the operating budget to the CRF each year) with heavy costs ahead is a building where a special levy is a matter of time.
3. Minutes and financials: read for atmosphere
- Two years of AGM/SGM and council minutes: recurring leaks, elevator and security issues that never quite get solved; defeated repair motions; owner disputes. None of this appears on any certificate — it lives in the minutes.
- Financial statements and budget: unusual fee increases, litigation (also disclosed on the Form B), and bylaws that affect your plans. Note that BC has banned strata rental restrictions and age restrictions other than 55+, but a 55+ bylaw can still exist.
4. The practical sequence
Write a strata-documents subject into your offer, then read in this order once the package arrives: Form B, depreciation report, minutes. Have your REALTOR® and lawyer sanity-check anything you can’t interpret. For how subjects work and how many days to allow, see our companion post, Offer Subjects Explained. And for why this step deserves the effort, our Why Us page puts it plainly: buying a condo means buying a share of a whole building’s finances, not just one suite.
I’m Jack Zhu, a REALTOR® with RE/MAX Select Properties, licensed for 14 years. If a strata package lands on your table and you’d like a second pair of eyes, call me at 604-889-1640.
This post is general information, not legal advice; for a specific transaction, rely on your own lawyer or notary.
