How Strata Fees Are Calculated in BC

If you've ever looked at your monthly strata invoice and wondered how strata fees are calculated in BC, you're in the right place. We've prepared budgets for 200+ Sea-to-Sky strata corporations since 2011 and the math is genuinely not complicated, but it is non-obvious, and the consequences of misunderstanding it are real. In this guide we'll walk through where your fee number actually comes from: the strata plan's unit entitlement, the operating budget, the contingency reserve fund contribution, and the AGM vote that locks it in for the next fiscal year. By the end you'll be able to read your own budget package like a pro.

The basic formula

A monthly strata fee in BC is the answer to a simple division problem:

Your monthly fee = (Annual operating budget + Annual CRF contribution) × (Your unit entitlement ÷ Total unit entitlement) ÷ 12

That's it. Every other complication, special levies, user fees, sectioned stratas, is a refinement of this formula. The two inputs that change are the annual budget (set every year by AGM vote) and your share of it (set once on the strata plan and very hard to change).

The legal authority sits in Strata Property Act s. 99, which says owners must contribute to the operating fund and CRF "in proportion to the unit entitlement of the strata lot." The strata plan, registered at the Land Title Office, contains the Schedule of Unit Entitlement that lists every lot's number. Once that schedule is registered, changing it requires a unanimous vote of all owners, which in practice almost never happens.

Step 1: Unit entitlement, your share of the building

Unit entitlement is the number assigned to each strata lot on the strata plan that determines that lot's share of common expenses, voting weight at general meetings (in some cases), and special levy obligations. In BC the unit entitlement is almost always set by one of three methods at the time the strata is registered:

• Habitable area in square metres, by far the most common for residential stratas built after 2000
• One share per lot, sometimes used in older townhome stratas, gives every owner equal share
• Approved alternative, used in mixed-use buildings where commercial and residential lots need different treatment

If your strata was registered after July 2000, your unit entitlement is most likely habitable square metres rounded to the nearest whole number. You can find your number on the strata plan itself or by ordering a Form B Information Certificate from your strata. Add up every lot's unit entitlement and you get the total, your fraction of that total is your share of every expense.

Step 2: The operating budget

The operating budget is the strata corporation's plan for the next fiscal year's recurring expenses. It usually covers 12 categories that look something like this:

Your council and your strata manager (if you have one) draft this budget each spring. The draft is sent to all owners at least two weeks before the AGM under s. 45 notice requirements, and owners then vote at the AGM. A majority vote, more than 50% of the votes cast, is enough to approve the budget under s. 103.

If the budget doesn't pass, the previous year's budget continues at the same total amount until a new one is approved. This is rarer than you'd think, most BC AGMs approve the budget with little debate because the line items are mostly fixed by contract.

Step 3: The CRF contribution

The contingency reserve fund (CRF) is the strata's long-term savings account for major repairs and replacements that don't happen every year, roofs, envelope, elevators, boilers, parking structures. The legal floor on annual contributions is set in SPA s. 96 and the Strata Property Regulation 6.1, and in most BC stratas the contribution is at least 10% of the operating budget every year.

That 10% minimum is exactly that, a floor, not a target. A 2026 Sea-to-Sky strata with a 30-year-old building and a thin reserve probably needs to contribute 25% or 30% of operating costs to the CRF to be on track. Your depreciation report is supposed to tell you what's adequate.

Want the deep dive on CRF mechanics? See our contingency reserve fund minimum contributions guide.

Step 4: The math, with a real example

Say you own a 1,000 sq ft condo in a 40-unit Squamish building. The strata plan lists your unit entitlement as 93 (square metres rounded). The total unit entitlement of all 40 lots is 3,720.

The council and manager draft a 2026 budget:

• Operating expenses: $360,000
• CRF contribution (15%): $54,000
• Total annual fees to collect: $414,000

Your share is 93 / 3,720 = 2.5%.

Your annual contribution = $414,000 × 2.5% = $10,350

Your monthly fee = $10,350 / 12 = $862.50 / month

Your downstairs neighbour with a 750 sq ft unit (unit entitlement 70) pays:

$414,000 × (70 / 3,720) / 12 = $648.92 / month

Exact same building, exact same services, different unit entitlement, different fee. This is the formula. There is no discretion in it once the budget passes.

Step 5: The AGM vote

The budget, and therefore your fee, is locked in at the Annual General Meeting. Most BC stratas hold their AGM in April through June. The notice package, which must arrive at least two weeks before the meeting under s. 45, includes:

1. The proposed operating budget with comparisons to the prior year
2. A proposed CRF contribution
3. The resulting monthly fee schedule by unit
4. Any special-resolution items (bylaw changes, special levies, depreciation report procurement)

Owners debate, sometimes amend, and then vote. The budget passes by majority. Once passed, the council and manager start collecting the new fee from the first day of the next fiscal year, for most stratas that's the day after the AGM.

"The first time I read our AGM notice and understood every number on it, I realized we'd been overpaying for property insurance for years. Taking the time to actually read the package paid for itself many times over." , Sea-to-Sky strata president, after switching to professional management

If you're an owner who wants to be useful at AGM season, our strata AGM guide walks through what to read, what to ask, and where the leverage actually sits.

Section vs. building: the wrinkle in mixed-use stratas

Some BC stratas, usually mixed-use buildings with commercial and residential lots, operate as sectioned stratas under Strata Property Act Part 11. In a sectioned strata each section (residential, commercial, sometimes parking) has its own budget and fees for things that benefit only that section, plus a shared building-level budget for things that benefit everyone.

The math is the same formula, applied twice, once at the building level (every owner contributes by unit entitlement) and once at the section level (only that section's owners contribute, usually by section unit entitlement). Your monthly fee in a sectioned strata is the sum of the building portion and the section portion.

What strata fees do not cover

Worth saying clearly: strata fees fund the strata corporation's recurring obligations. They do not cover:

• Special levies for major one-off projects (see our special levies guide)
• Your in-suite repairs, appliances, or improvements
• User-pay items like guest parking, party room rentals, or move-in fees (charged separately)
• Insurance deductibles charged back to a specific owner after a covered incident
• Bylaw fines (those are owner-specific, not part of the budget)

If a council tries to lump a one-time roof replacement into ordinary monthly fees rather than running a special levy, that's a process error, the operating fund and CRF have specific permitted uses under s. 92 and s. 93, and major capital replacement usually belongs in the CRF or a special levy, not in operating.

For the full breakdown of operating vs. CRF, see our operating fund vs contingency reserve fund post.

How to read your own AGM budget package

Three things to do every year when the AGM package lands in your inbox:

1. Find your line. The package will include a per-unit fee schedule. Find your unit number, confirm the unit entitlement is unchanged from last year, and confirm the monthly fee.
2. Read the variance. A good budget shows last year's actuals vs. this year's proposed. Look for line items up more than 15% year-over-year and ask why before the meeting.
3. Check the CRF trajectory. Is the contribution at least 10% of operating? Does it align with the most recent depreciation report? If not, raise it as a question, the answer matters for your future cost of ownership.

Owners who ask informed questions get better-run buildings. A council that knows owners are reading their packages is a council that builds tighter budgets.

When fees go up, and what to do

If your fees just jumped and you want a quick sense of whether the new total is in line with your market, compare your per-unit rate against the typical Squamish, Whistler, and Pemberton ranges discussed in the sections above.

Strata fees in BC have risen faster than CPI in most recent years. The main drivers are property insurance (which saw significant increases during the 2020 BC strata insurance crisis and the years following), building age (more stratas hitting their first major repair cycle), and the rising cost of trades.

If your fees jumped 20% this year and you don't understand why, do these three things in order:

1. Read the line-item variance in the AGM package
2. Ask the council for the renewal quotes that drove the biggest line items
3. Attend the AGM and vote

If after all that you still can't make rent on a fee increase, our what to do if you can't pay your strata fees post is the next read, it covers payment plans, lien risk, and CRT options compassionately and practically.

Final thoughts: the fee is a symptom

Your monthly fee is the visible output of a year of decisions: insurance renewal terms, contractor negotiations, reserve planning, council priorities, and the AGM vote. The fee itself isn't right or wrong, it's a reflection of how well your strata is being run. A high fee on a well-managed building with a fully funded CRF is a far better outcome than a low fee on a thinly funded building that's three years from a $40,000 special levy per door. We've seen both, many times.

If you're a Squamish council and your fee math doesn't line up with the reality on the ground, send us your last AGM package and we'll review it at no charge.