If you're buying a condo or townhome, at some point your REALTOR® is going to send you a link with a stack of PDFs. Hundreds of pages. Bylaws, minutes, financial statements, a report from an engineer. Most buyers open it, scroll for a minute, and close it again.
I get it. But this stack is where you find out whether you're buying a well-run building or a special levy waiting to happen. When you buy strata, you're not just buying your unit. You're buying a share of the roof, the parking lot, the windows, the pipes in the walls, and every decision the owners have made about them.
Here's what's in the package, and where I spend my time when I review it for my clients.
The quick tour
A typical BC strata package includes:
Form B (Information Certificate): a snapshot of the strata's key facts, filled out by the property manager Depreciation report: the long-term forecast for repairs and replacements Minutes: council meetings, AGMs and any special general meetings, usually the last two years Financial statements and budget: where the money is and where it's going Bylaws and rules: what you can and can't do Insurance summary: coverage and deductibles Strata plan: which parts are yours, which are common property, and which are limited common property
All of it matters to some degree. But three of these do most of the heavy lifting: the depreciation report, the minutes, and the Form B.
The depreciation report: the building's crystal ball
If I could only read one document, this would be it.
A depreciation report is prepared by a qualified professional (an engineer, reserve planner, architect and a few others). They walk the property, look at everything the strata is responsible for (roofs, siding, windows, decks, elevators, boilers, paving) and estimate how long each piece has left and what it'll cost to replace. Then they lay out funding plans for how the strata could pay for it all over the next 30 years.
Basically, it tells you what's coming, when, and how much.
As of July 2024, any BC strata with five or more units has to get one every five years. Before that, stratas could vote to skip it year after year, and plenty did. So when I open a package, the first thing I check is the date on the report. A report from 2019 is describing a building that's seven years older now. Costs have gone up. Things have aged. If a new report is overdue or "in progress," I want to know why.
The second thing I look at is what's coming in the next 5 to 10 years. If the roof, windows or building envelope are near the end of their life, that's a big bill coming, and the question becomes: is the money there to pay for it?
Are they actually planning ahead?
This is the part that separates a good building from a risky one. Every strata has a contingency reserve fund (CRF), which is basically the savings account for big repairs. The depreciation report tells you what the CRF should be. The financials tell you what it actually is.
When those two numbers are close, you've got a strata that's being proactive. They know what's coming and they're saving for it.
When they're far apart, somebody is going to pay the difference. Usually that's the owners at the time, through a special levy. And "the owners at the time" might be you.
Since late 2023, BC stratas have to put at least 10% of their operating budget into the CRF every year. But that's the legal floor, not a plan. A building that only ever contributes the minimum while its depreciation report is recommending much more is kicking the can down the road.
A few patterns I watch for:
Low strata fees that look like a bonus. Cheap fees often mean under-saving. The bill doesn't go away, it just shows up later as a levy. A strata loan. I reviewed a complex this year where roughly a third of every owner's monthly fee was going to debt service on a building envelope loan. That's money not going into savings. A dedicated fund for a big project sitting at zero. It tells you the strata knows about the problem and hasn't started saving for it. A big-ticket item with a quote attached. A replacement quote in the minutes with no money set aside is about as close to a guaranteed levy as it gets. The minutes: where the real story is
The depreciation report is the forecast. The minutes are what's actually happening.
This is where you see owners complaining about a leak for the third meeting in a row. Where council "agrees to revisit the roof next year," again. Where someone mentions an engineer's report on the exterior walls. Where you find out about a lawsuit, an insurance claim, or a vote on a special levy that's coming up two weeks after you'd take possession.
I read the minutes looking for patterns. One mention of a repair is normal. A problem that keeps coming back and keeps getting deferred is a red flag. And anything about to be voted on matters a lot, because the levy often gets split among whoever owns the unit on the date it passes.
Form B: the cheat sheet
The Form B is short, and it's a great place to start. It tells you the monthly fee for the unit, the CRF balance, any approved special levies, whether there's litigation, whether there are rental restrictions, and whether the strata has a current depreciation report.
Think of it as the headline. Then you go to the other documents to check whether the headline tells the whole story. Sometimes it doesn't. A "no" on pending levies doesn't mean there isn't one being discussed in the minutes.
The rest still matters
Bylaws are where deal-breakers hide. Rental restrictions, pet limits, age restrictions, short-term rental bans, rules on things like A/C units or balcony enclosures. If you're planning to rent the place out someday or you have a big dog, read these before you fall in love with the unit.
Insurance is worth a look too, especially the water damage deductible. If a leak starts in your unit, you could be on the hook for that deductible, so make sure your own condo insurance covers it.
The bottom line
A beautiful unit in a poorly run building is a bad buy. A slightly less exciting unit in a strata that's well funded, planning ahead and making good decisions can be one of the best purchases you'll ever make.
You don't have to read every page yourself. That's part of my job, and I go through every package for every client before they commit. But you should know what's in there, and you should know which questions to ask.
If you're looking at condos or townhomes and want someone to actually dig through the documents with you, let's talk. Twenty minutes, no pressure, even if you're a year out.
Teagan Adams, REALTOR®
Born and raised in Kelowna. I write these to answer the questions I get asked every week: one question per post, answered properly.
