Strata Property Act Compliance: How Councils Avoid Legal Trouble

Most BC strata councils don't get into legal trouble for what they decided. They get into trouble for how they decided it: process failures, missed notices, ignored requests, and decisions made without the formalities the Strata Property Act demands. Strata Property Act compliance isn't about reading the whole statute. It's about consistently nailing the 8 or 9 process points where the CRT routinely cancels strata decisions. After 14 years sitting at Sea-to-Sky council tables and watching CRT decisions accumulate, the failure pattern is remarkably consistent. Below is the practical compliance checklist that keeps councils out of trouble, drawn from the most common CRT losses against BC stratas.

The compliance failures that lose at CRT

Read enough owner-vs-strata CRT decisions and the same handful of failures show up over and over:

• Improper bylaw enforcement procedure (s. 135). The most common single cause.
• Records access refusals (s. 35 / s. 36). A close second.
• Defective AGM or SGM notice (s. 45).
• Failure to hold a requested hearing (s. 34.1).
• Enforcing a bylaw never filed at LTO (s. 128).
• Financial mismanagement and CRF misuse (s. 92 / s. 96).
• Selective enforcement amounting to significant unfairness (s. 164).

These overlap (one bad case often involves three or four) but the lesson is that compliance is mostly procedural. Get the process right and the substance usually takes care of itself.

Bylaw enforcement procedure: the #1 failure

Strata Property Act s. 135 sets out the exact sequence for issuing a fine or other bylaw-related decision. Miss any step and the decision is void.

The required sequence:

1. Receive a written complaint (from another owner, council, or the manager). Verbal complaints don't trigger anything.
2. Notify the alleged offender in writing of the complaint, including a copy of the complaint and the specific bylaw allegedly violated.
3. Give a reasonable opportunity to respond. Practically, 2 weeks is the floor.
4. Offer a hearing under s. 34.1 if the owner requests one.
5. Hold the hearing within 4 weeks of the request.
6. Issue the decision in writing within 1 week of the hearing.
7. Then, and only then, impose the fine or take action.

The most common variant we see councils botch: skipping step 2 (the owner never gets the written complaint), or step 3 (fining within days), or step 5 (refusing the hearing or taking too long).

Records access: the easy win for owners

Strata Property Act s. 35 lists the records every strata must keep and s. 36 sets the access rules. Owners and prospective purchasers are entitled to a long list of documents, in most cases within 2 weeks of a written request.

Records that must be produced on request:

• Financial statements (current and past)
• Current bylaws and rules
• Council, AGM, and SGM minutes (6-year retention; we recommend forever)
• Annual budget and budgets approved at AGM
• Depreciation report
• Form B Information Certificate and Form F Certificate of Payment
• Contracts entered by the strata
• Insurance policy and recent claims

Common council errors:

• Refusing "because we don't have to give those out" (you almost always do)
• Charging fees above the cost recovery rate (set by regulation)
• Producing redacted versions where redaction isn't justified
• Taking more than 2 weeks without explanation
• Refusing tenant requests (tenants have some access too)

Bylaw filing: the silent killer

Strata Property Act s. 128 requires bylaw amendments to be filed at the Land Title Office before they take effect. We routinely find stratas trying to enforce bylaws that were voted on at an AGM years ago but never made it to LTO filing.

If a bylaw isn't filed:

• It cannot be enforced
• Any fine issued under it is void
• Any decision premised on it is challengeable

Build this into your annual compliance review: pull a current set of filed bylaws from LTO once a year. Compare them to what your council thinks the bylaws are. Reconcile any gaps before someone challenges them. Filing is inexpensive and the turnaround is fast. There is no excuse for unfiled bylaws.

AGM and SGM notice: don't shortcut this

Strata Property Act s. 45 requires at least 2 weeks' notice for annual and special general meetings, with a complete notice package. The package must include:

• Date, time, and location
• Agenda with all items to be decided
• Proposed budget (AGM)
• Candidate statements for council elections (AGM)
• The full text of any 3/4 vote or unanimous vote resolutions
• Proxy form
• Last meeting's minutes for approval

Defective notice voids any votes taken. CRT decisions in this area illustrate the cost: stratas have had entire approved budgets and special levies struck down for failing to circulate the resolution text 14 days in advance.

For email notice to be valid, each owner must have consented in writing. Don't assume, keep a list and update it annually.

Hearings under s. 34.1

When an owner requests a hearing, council must hold it within 4 weeks. The hearing isn't a court proceeding. It's a chance for the owner to be heard and for council to consider. But it must actually happen, and council must issue a written decision within 1 week of the hearing.

Best-practice hearings:

• Held by council in person or video, with the owner attending if they wish
• Recorded by minute or audio (with consent)
• Documented with a written decision letter referencing the bylaws and evidence considered

Refusing or "forgetting" a hearing is a near-automatic loss at CRT. Councils that skip a properly requested hearing are on very weak ground if the dispute reaches the CRT.

CRF and special levy compliance

s. 96 governs the contingency reserve fund, and s. 99 governs special levies. Common errors:

• Spending CRF money without proper authorization (3/4 vote or specific exception)
• Issuing a special levy without a 3/4 vote
• Misallocating between operating and contingency
• Failing to track restricted reserves separately

CRT decisions on improper CRF expenditure reinforce that even well-intentioned reallocation between funds, without owner approval, exposes the strata to refund orders.

A practical annual compliance checklist

We give every council we manage a one-page compliance review every February. The items:

1. Pull current bylaws from LTO. Reconcile against what council assumes.
2. Confirm minutes from the last 24 months are complete and indexed.
3. Confirm depreciation report is current (5-year refresh cycle).
4. Confirm Form B template is up to date with current fees, levies, and insurance summary.
5. Confirm insurance policy is current with deductibles reviewed.
6. Confirm the bylaw enforcement template letter matches s. 135 word-for-word.
7. Confirm AGM notice template includes every s. 45 element.
8. Confirm the records-access response template is in place.
9. Confirm all council members have received basic SPA training.
10. Run a mock records request and time the response.

When to call your manager

If you're on council and any of these sound unfamiliar (s. 135, s. 34.1, s. 45, s. 128) please talk to your strata manager today. These aren't theoretical. They show up in real CRT decisions every month, with real cost consequences: refunded fines, awarded fees, sometimes special-levy reversals. Our bylaw enforcement procedure post walks the s. 135 sequence in detail, and our records access guide covers s. 35 and s. 36 with template language.

If your council is between managers or self-managing and wants a one-time compliance review, reach out. We've done many of these for Squamish and Whistler stratas and they typically surface a handful of fixable issues per building.