The Strata Documents to Read Before You Buy in BC

Why the paperwork matters more than the walkthrough

When you buy a strata condo or townhouse, you're buying two things: the unit, and a share of everything the building will spend money on for the next twenty years. The walkthrough shows you the first. Only the documents show you the second.

In our experience, the deals that go wrong for Fraser Valley buyers rarely go wrong inside the unit. They go wrong in the building: a levy that surfaced six months after completion, a roof the minutes had been quietly discussing for two years, an insurance deductible nobody checked. Every one of those was visible in the package before subjects were removed.

The good news is that BC law gives buyers real access. The strata corporation must produce its core disclosure certificate within a set deadline for a capped fee, and it is legally bound by what that certificate says. You just have to read it.

The Form B: the certificate the strata is bound by

The centrepiece of every strata package is the Form B Information Certificate. An owner, a purchaser, or someone authorized by either can request it, and the strata corporation must deliver it within 7 days, charging at most $35 plus up to 25 cents per page for copying.

The Form B discloses, for the specific strata lot you're buying:

• the monthly strata fees, and any money the current owner owes the strata
• special levies that have been approved, and what remains payable
• the contingency reserve fund (CRF) balance
• bylaw or rule amendments that haven't been filed yet
• court or tribunal proceedings the strata corporation is involved in
• outstanding work orders or notices
• which parking stalls and storage lockers go with the lot, and on what basis
• a summary of the strata corporation's insurance (required since April 1, 2023)

The strata corporation is bound by what the Form B states. If it says no levy is owing and one was in fact approved, that binding effect works in favour of the person who requested the certificate. This is why we treat a stale Form B as a real problem, not a formality, and ask for a current one before subject removal.

What must come attached to the Form B

A Form B arrives with more than the certificate pages. It must include the strata's rules, the current budget, and the most recent depreciation report. Depending on the strata's situation, it must also include certain agreements, resolutions, unfiled bylaw amendments, and details of court proceedings.

The depreciation report attachment matters more now than it ever has. Stratas with five or more lots must obtain one on a five-year cycle, and Fraser Valley stratas without a current report were required to get one by July 1, 2026. So a package for a Fraser Valley building that still contains a 2015 report, or none at all, is telling you something about how that strata is run. We cover how to read the report itself in the depreciation report guide.

The minutes: where the building tells on itself

The Form B is a snapshot. The minutes are the movie. We ask for two years of strata council and general meeting minutes on every deal, and in our experience they're the highest-value pages in the package per minute spent reading.

What we're scanning for:

• Water, in any form. Leaks, ingress, "moisture investigation", "envelope consultant". Water is the most expensive word in a strata minute book.
• Studies commissioned but not acted on. An engineering report that appears in the minutes and then goes quiet usually means the work was priced and deferred. The bill didn't disappear.
• The same repair deferred across multiple years. Councils defer honestly for a year. Deferring the same roof three AGMs in a row is a funding problem wearing a scheduling costume.
• Levies being "discussed". A levy that's approved shows up on the Form B. A levy that's still being debated doesn't, and if it passes after you complete, it's yours. The minutes are the only early warning you get.
• Tone. A council that publishes clear, boring minutes on time is, in our experience, the single most underrated amenity a building can have.

Bylaws, financials, and the rest of the package

The bylaws tell you what you can and can't do with the home: pets, short-term rentals, renovations, barbecues, flooring. Since November 24, 2022 stratas can't restrict long-term rentals, and age restrictions survive only at 55 and up, but everything else in the bylaws is fair game and enforceable. Five minutes here prevents the surprises you only otherwise discover after moving in. We cover the details in the bylaws guide.

The financial statements and budget show whether the strata's operating spending matches its income and how the contingency reserve fund is actually funded, the 10% minimum annual CRF contribution has been law since November 2023. Read them alongside the strata fee guide and the CRF guide.

The insurance summary, mandatory in the Form B since April 1, 2023, tells you the strata's coverage and deductibles. The water deductible is the number to write down, because if a loss originates in your unit you can be on the hook for it even without negligence. That's the subject of the insurance guide.

How to run the review inside a one-week subject period

Most offers we write for strata homes include a document-review subject of several business days. That's enough time if the review is triaged rather than read cover to cover:

1. Form B first: fees, levies, CRF balance, litigation, insurance deductibles.
2. Depreciation report: the projects due in the next ten years, against the CRF.
3. Minutes: scan two years for water, deferrals, and levies in discussion.
4. Bylaws: your specific dealbreakers (pets, rentals, renovations, age).
5. Financials: does the budget balance, and is the CRF contribution real.

If anything material surfaces, the subject condition is your exit. Never remove a document-review subject before the documents arrive, however competitive the market feels that week. A strata that can't produce a Form B inside its legal deadline is itself a data point.

And this is one of the places where a second set of eyes is worth the ask. Your real estate lawyer reads strata packages for a living; for anything ambiguous, legal, or insurance-related, their read beats ours and certainly beats a listing description.