Strata terms, in plain English

The vocabulary in a British Columbia strata package is unusually precise, and the precision is the point — several of these words mean something narrower than they sound. Twenty-one of them, defined plainly, with what each tends to matter for.

Strata corporation

The legal entity made up of all the owners in the development. It owns the common property, carries the insurance, sues and is sued, and is the body that issues a Form B. Buying a strata lot makes you a member of it automatically.

Strata lot

The part of the property you own outright — usually the airspace inside your unit, to the boundaries shown on the strata plan. Often less than people assume: the walls, windows and balcony slab are frequently common property, not yours.

Common property

Everything that is not a strata lot: hallways, lobbies, roof, exterior walls, parkade, grounds, and the pipes and wiring that serve more than one lot. Repaired and insured by the strata corporation, paid for by everyone through strata fees.

Limited common property (LCP)

Common property set aside for the exclusive use of one or more lots — typically a balcony, patio, parking stall or storage locker. Still owned in common, so the corporation generally repairs the structure while the user handles day-to-day care. Which is which is set by the bylaws and the strata plan, and it is a frequent source of dispute.

Unit entitlement

The number, shown on the strata plan, that fixes each lot's share of the common expenses. Your monthly fee is your unit entitlement over the total, applied to the budget. It is not a measure of value or of votes.

Strata fees

Monthly contributions to the operating budget and the contingency reserve fund. A low fee is not automatically good news — it can mean the reserve is being underfunded, which shows up later as a special levy.

Contingency reserve fund (CRF)

The corporation's savings account for major repairs and replacements. Its balance means little on its own; its meaning comes from reading it against the depreciation report's funding model.

Special levy

A one-off charge approved by a ¾ vote to pay for something the reserve cannot cover — a roof, a re-pipe, an envelope remediation. It is charged to the lots by unit entitlement and is payable by whoever owns the lot when it falls due, which makes the timing of an approved-but-unpaid levy a matter to settle in the contract of purchase and sale.

Form B — Information Certificate

The certificate the strata corporation issues under section 59 of the Strata Property Act, setting out fees, arrears, levies, the reserve balance, parking, litigation, work orders and an insurance summary for one lot. What it states is binding on the corporation as against the person who requested it. It must come with the rules, the current budget, the most recent depreciation report and any electrical planning report attached.

Form F — Certificate of Payment

The certificate confirming the seller owes the corporation nothing, required to register the transfer in the Land Title Office. A conveyancing document rather than a due-diligence one.

Form J — Rental Disclosure Statement

Filed by the original developer where lots were set aside for rental. Where one exists it can create rental exemptions attached to particular lots that survive later bylaw changes — so it matters to anyone intending to rent.

Bylaws

The registered rules of the corporation, filed in the Land Title Office, binding on owners, tenants and visitors. They cover rentals, pets, alterations, parking, noise and fines. A bylaw filed years ago is still in force today; age does not retire it.

Rules

Made by the strata council to govern use of common property, and narrower than bylaws. They are ratified at the next general meeting and are a separate document from the bylaws — a package should contain both.

Depreciation report

An engineering study inventorying the building's major components, estimating when each needs renewal and at what cost, and modelling funding scenarios. Required on a five-year cycle since July 2024; corporations with four or fewer lots are exempt, and the old annual ¾ vote to defer one no longer exists.

Electrical planning report (EPR)

A newer requirement: a report on the strata corporation's current electrical capacity and how to plan for future demand, which in practice means EV charging and electrification. Required of corporations with five or more lots, by 31 December 2026 in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and the Capital Regional District, and by 31 December 2028 elsewhere in the province.

Strata council

The owners elected at the AGM to run the corporation between general meetings. Its minutes are usually the most informative document in the package, because they record problems while they are still problems.

AGM and SGM

The annual general meeting, where the budget is approved and the council elected, and a special general meeting, called between AGMs — very often to vote on a special levy. An SGM in the record is worth reading first.

¾ vote

A resolution passed by at least three quarters of the votes cast at a general meeting. The threshold required for special levies, most bylaw amendments, and significant alterations to common property.

Section 57 / significant change in use or appearance

Shorthand for the requirement that a significant change to the use or appearance of common property be approved by a ¾ vote. It is why an owner cannot simply enclose a balcony or change window glazing.

Deductible (water damage)

The amount the corporation's policy does not pay on a claim. It matters to an individual owner more than the policy limit does, because a loss below the deductible — or one the bylaws make the owner responsible for — comes out of the owner's pocket or their own policy. Water damage deductibles in BC have risen sharply.

2-5-10 home warranty

Mandatory new-home warranty coverage in British Columbia: two years on labour and materials, five years on the building envelope, ten years on structure. It runs from the original date of coverage, not from a resale, so on an older building the useful question is what is left rather than what it was.

Questions

Last reviewed and updated 2026-09-21.