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New regulations help close loopholes for strata owners
The B.C. Ministry of Housing recently announced new regulations to close a loophole that allowed strata corporations to indefinitely defer depreciation reports.
Depreciation reports help estimate the long-term repair and replacement costs of a strata corporation’s shared property and assets, giving strata owners the ability to contribute to contingency reserve funds as required. Obtaining these reports could previously be deferred repeatedly as long as three-quarters of a strata corporation’s owners voted annually in favour of a deferral.
“No one wants to be surprised by a sudden special levy to cover repairs that should have been planned for,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing. “These regulations will help protect strata owners by ensuring depreciation reports are obtained regularly, providing them with the information and predictability they need to plan for future costs.”
Updated regulations that take effect July 1, will close this loophole and require existing strata corporations with five or more strata lots to obtain depreciation reports on a five-year cycle, instead of a three-year cycle. This change aligns B.C. with other jurisdictions, including Alberta and Ontario.
Effective July 1, 2025, all strata corporations must also obtain their depreciation reports from a list of qualified professions, including engineers, certified reserve planners, architects, appraisers, applied science technologists and quantity surveyors.
To support new strata corporations with five or more strata lots, effective July 1, 2027, owner-developers will be required to contribute funds toward the cost of obtaining a first depreciation report: a minimum of $5,000, plus $200 per strata lot, up to a maximum of $30,000.
Strata corporations with four or fewer lots will continue to be exempt from being required to obtain depreciation reports.
These regulations were developed in consultation with strata stakeholders, homeowner associations, strata lawyers and insurance representatives. They follow amendments to the Strata Property Act passed in August 2020 to mitigate the costs of strata insurance. Those changes included updating depreciation report regulations and closing the annual three-quarter vote loophole, a Ministry of Housing media release explained.
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