What a strata corporation actually is, who owns what, and which rules bind you — the groundwork everything else in this library builds on.
If you have just bought into a strata, or you have owned for years and never quite had the structure explained, this is the place to start. A BC strata corporation is a legal entity created the moment a strata plan is deposited in the Land Title Office. Every owner is automatically a member of it. It owns the common property, it carries the insurance on the building, it collects the money, and it is governed by the Strata Property Act — not by whoever is loudest at the annual general meeting.
Most of the confusion owners run into traces back to one of three questions. Where does my unit end and common property begin? That boundary decides who pays for a repair, and it is not where most people assume. What is the difference between a bylaw and a rule? They are created differently, enforced differently, and only one of them can carry a fine on its own. Who actually has the authority to decide this? Sometimes it is the council, sometimes it takes a majority vote, and sometimes it takes a three-quarters vote at a general meeting.
The articles below work through each of those in plain language, with the sections of the Act named so you can check the source yourself. Once the structure makes sense, the money questions and the governance disputes get considerably easier to follow.
Unit entitlement is the number that sets your monthly strata fee and the weight of your vote — and almost nobody is told what theirs is or where it came from.
6 min read
The strata plan is the document that decides who pays for what. Here's how to find it, what the hatching and the LCP labels mean, and how to read a boundary.
6 min read
In a bare land strata you own the land parcel and the house on it, while the strata maintains shared roads, utilities and amenities. Here's how it works in BC.
7 min read
A strata is BC's version of a condo: you own your home and share the common areas with every other owner. Here's how stratas work, in plain English.
7 min read
Common property and limited common property aren't the same thing in a BC strata — and the difference decides who pays for balconies, parking, and repairs.
6 min read
Bylaws and rules aren't the same thing in a BC strata. Here's how each is created, which one can govern what happens inside your unit, and how to enforce both.
6 min read
Winding up a strata in BC lets owners sell the whole building, often for redevelopment. Here's when it makes sense, the 80% vote, and the court-approval steps.
6 min read
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