Strata fees on a BC presale

Last updated 3 September 2026

Strata fees are the part of a presale budget buyers guess at. The number in the disclosure statement is real, but it is an estimate built before anyone has lived in the building — and the rules that govern what happens to it afterwards are set by statute, not by the developer.

What strata fees actually cover

Your monthly fee funds two separate pots. The operating fund pays the recurring cost of running the building: insurance on the common property, utilities for common areas, landscaping, cleaning, elevator servicing, management fees, amenity upkeep. The contingency reserve fund, or CRF, is long-term savings for the things that eventually need replacing — roof, envelope, elevators, boilers.

What the fee does not cover is anything inside your own walls, your own contents and liability insurance, or your property taxes. A common presale surprise is the deductible: the strata insures the building, but a claim arising in your unit can leave you responsible for a deductible that runs into five figures. That is what personal strata insurance is for, and it is cheap.

Your share of both pots is set by unit entitlement — broadly, your unit’s size relative to the rest of the building — not by how much you use the amenities or whether you use them at all.

How much are strata fees in Vancouver, and why nobody can quote you one

There is no market rate to look up, and any per-square-foot figure you find online is someone else’s building. The fee is arithmetic: the building’s total operating budget plus its CRF contribution, divided among the units by unit entitlement. Two towers on the same block can differ substantially because one has a pool, a concierge and three elevators and the other has none of those.

The number that applies to you is already in the documents you have been given. The owner developer must prepare an interim budget for the strata corporation and deliver it to every prospective purchaser before you sign. Find your unit in that schedule. That is the estimate, and it is the only one worth budgeting against.

Two structural points are worth knowing before you read it. Concrete high-rises generally carry higher per-foot operating costs than low-rise wood-frame buildings. And amenity-heavy buildings carry those amenities forever — the pool that sells the presale is a permanent line in the operating budget.

Where the disclosure statement number comes from

The interim budget, and the window it covers

The owner developer prepares an interim budget covering the twelve months beginning the first day of the month after the first unit in the building is conveyed. It is built from projections — estimated insurance, estimated utilities, estimated management — for a building with no operating history whatsoever. Nobody has run the heating through a winter or received a renewal quote on the insurance.

What the developer must cover, and what it must not

This is the part that is usually reported wrongly. If the strata corporation’s actual expenses exceed the estimates in the interim budget during the period from one month after the first conveyance until the first AGM, the owner developer must pay the difference, within eight weeks after that meeting. A lowballed interim budget is therefore not a bill you quietly absorb in year one.

What the developer is not on the hook for is everything after the first AGM. That is where the increase lands.

What changes at the first AGM

The owner developer must arrange the first annual general meeting within six weeks of the earlier of two dates: nine months from the first conveyance, or the day 50% plus one of the units have been conveyed. At that meeting the owners approve a real budget, built from actual invoices rather than projections, and elect a council.

Two things typically push the number up. Real costs have replaced estimates — insurance in particular has been the line item that moves most in recent years. And the strata must now fund its CRF properly, on a building whose reserve is close to empty because it has existed for less than a year.

The contingency reserve fund, and why a new building’s is empty

Since 1 November 2023 every strata corporation must contribute a minimum of 10% of its annual operating budget to the contingency reserve fund each year. It is a floor, not a target, and on a young building it is frequently not enough on its own.

This is the point buyers get backwards. A new building does not mean low fees for years. It means no reserve and no operating history — the two things that make an older, well-run strata predictable. The roof on your building will be replaced eventually, and the money has to come from somewhere. It comes either from the CRF, funded gradually through your monthly fee, or from a special levy later.

Depreciation reports and special levies

A depreciation report is a professional assessment of what the building’s major components will cost to replace and when. Every strata corporation with five or more lots must obtain one on a five-year cycle, and since 1 July 2024 owners can no longer defer it by annual vote. Since 1 July 2025 the report must come from one of a designated list of qualified professionals.

For a presale buyer the timing matters: a strata corporation created between 1 July 2024 and 1 July 2027 must obtain its first depreciation report within two years of its first AGM. For strata corporations created on or after 1 July 2027 that shortens to eighteen months, with funding assistance from the owner developer. So your building’s first honest picture of its long-term costs arrives roughly two to three years after you move in, not at completion.

A special levy is a one-time charge for something the CRF cannot cover. It requires a 3/4 vote of the owners, and it is allocated by unit entitlement in the same way as your monthly fee. New buildings are not immune. A construction defect that falls outside warranty, or a reserve that was underfunded from the start, produces a levy just as reliably in a five-year-old building as in a fifty-year-old one.

Bylaws to read before you sign

The bylaws come with the disclosure statement, and the law changed in ways many buyers and some agents have not caught up with.

Rental restrictions no longer exist. As of 24 November 2022 a strata corporation cannot have a bylaw restricting or banning long-term rentals. If someone tells you a building is owner-occupied only, that bylaw is unenforceable. Short-term rentals are a separate question, governed by both strata bylaws and municipal rules.

Age restrictions are limited to 55+. Any age-restriction bylaw setting a threshold below 55 has been invalid since the same date, and since 1 May 2023 there are exemptions for children, younger spouses and live-in caregivers.

Pet bylaws remain enforceable, and they vary widely. Read them rather than assuming.

What I check on a client’s behalf

Across twenty launches the questions that have actually mattered are consistent: where this unit sits in the interim budget schedule and how its unit entitlement compares to similar plans; whether the amenity package is proportionate to the number of units carrying it; what the building form implies for long-run operating cost; and which bylaws are genuinely enforceable rather than merely printed.

None of that requires waiting for completion. It is all in the disclosure statement, and you have seven days from the later of the contract date or your written acknowledgement to read it properly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are the strata fees in the disclosure statement guaranteed?

No. They are the owner developer’s estimate in the interim budget. The developer must cover any shortfall against that estimate up to the first annual general meeting, but after the first AGM the owners set the budget and the fee can change.

Why did my strata fees go up after the first year?

Because the first AGM replaces the developer’s projections with a budget built from real invoices, and because the strata must fund a contingency reserve that started at nothing. Insurance is usually the single largest mover.

Are strata fees included in my mortgage payment?

No. They are paid separately to the strata corporation, normally by monthly pre-authorised debit. Lenders do, however, count a portion of your strata fee against your debt-service ratios when they qualify you.

Can I be charged a special levy on a brand-new building?

Yes. A special levy requires a 3/4 vote of owners and can be raised at any time, including on a new building, if the contingency reserve fund cannot cover a necessary expense.

Do strata fees cover my insurance?

Only the building’s. The strata insures common property; you need your own policy for your contents, your liability and, importantly, the strata’s insurance deductible, which can be substantial.

Where to go next

• The document these numbers live in: disclosure statements and amendments.
• The rest of your carrying cost: GST, PTT and vacancy taxes on a presale.
• Starting from the beginning: the complete BC presale guide.

Strata rules verified 2 September 2026 against the Province of British Columbia: the minimum 10% contingency reserve fund contribution in force since 1 November 2023; the five-year depreciation report cycle and the two-year and eighteen-month deadlines for newly created strata corporations; the owner developer’s interim budget, first AGM timing and shortfall obligation under the Strata Property Act; and the end of rental-restriction bylaws and the 55+ age-restriction limit on 24 November 2022.

This guide provides general information about strata fees on BC presales and is not legal or financial advice. Confirm the specifics of any building against its own disclosure statement and bylaws, and with your lawyer.