Running for Strata Council in BC: Eligibility, Nomination and Your First 90 Days

The AGM has been running ninety minutes. A special levy has just been debated to a standstill, three people have said the council "never tells us anything," and the chair asks for nominations to the council. The room goes silent and studies its shoes.

If you have ever thought "somebody should fix this," the mechanism for doing it is short, free, and available once a year. Standing for council in BC takes about thirty seconds of procedure and no campaign at all. What it takes afterwards is worth understanding before you put your hand up.

Who is eligible

Eligibility comes from the Strata Property Act and from your own registered bylaws, and the second part is where stratas differ.

Under the Act, owners are eligible. Where a strata lot is owned by a corporation, the corporation names an individual to represent it. Where an owner has assigned their rights to a tenant in the way the Act allows, that tenant can become eligible in the owner's place — which matters in buildings with a high proportion of renters.

Your bylaws can add restrictions on top. Common ones include disqualifying an owner whose strata fees or fines are in arrears, and limiting how many council seats a single owner can hold. These are bylaw restrictions, not automatic rules, so check your registered bylaws rather than assuming. If you are in arrears and want to stand, clearing the account before the meeting removes the argument entirely.

Two practical points. A co-owner of a lot is an owner and can stand. And in a very small strata — under four lots — the question is largely academic, because every owner ends up on council by default.

How many seats there are

Under the standard bylaws a council has at least three and no more than seven members. Many stratas have amended that range, so the notice of meeting or your bylaws will tell you what your building actually runs. Terms run from one AGM to the next, and there is no limit on standing again.

Council size is a genuine trade-off rather than an administrative detail: too few and the work concentrates on two exhausted people, too many and nothing gets decided. Ideal strata council size and how often to meet works through it.

Getting nominated

There is far less to this than people expect.

Nominations are usually taken from the floor at the AGM. Someone nominates you, or you nominate yourself, and unless your bylaws require a seconder that is the whole procedure. Some stratas circulate a nomination form with the notice package; that is a convenience, and unless the bylaws make it mandatory it does not close the door on nominating yourself on the night.

If you cannot attend, say so in advance. You can be elected in absentia, but somebody has to nominate you and confirm you are willing to serve. Tell the chair or the manager in writing beforehand. A proxy lets someone vote for you; it does not by itself put your name forward.

If there are fewer candidates than seats, everyone nominated is generally declared elected without a ballot. In most small BC stratas this is what actually happens.

If there are more candidates than seats, it goes to a vote — usually a show of hands, or a written ballot if any owner requests one. Voting rights and proxies work as they do for any other AGM business; the AGM prep guide covers notice, quorum and the order of proceedings.

Should you campaign?

Mostly, no. Contested council elections are uncommon outside large buildings, and a heavy campaign in a forty-unit building reads as odd.

What does help is being known before the meeting. Introduce yourself to a few owners, say plainly why you are standing and what you would work on, and keep it to one or two specifics rather than a manifesto. "I am an accountant and I would like to get the financial reporting into a shape owners can actually read" wins more votes than a general promise to improve communication.

Keep it civil. You will be governing alongside the people you are running against, possibly from the following week. And if you plan to put up signage, note that a strata's ability to restrict it is limited in some circumstances — can your strata ban election signs covers the BC position.

What you are actually signing up for

Be clear-eyed about it. Council is unpaid volunteer work with real legal duties attached.

Time. In a well-run small building, roughly two to four hours a month: a meeting, the package beforehand, and some correspondence. In a building mid-crisis — a failed envelope, a major levy, litigation — considerably more.

Legal duty. Section 31 requires you to act honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of the strata corporation, and to exercise the care, diligence and skill of a reasonably prudent person. You are making decisions about other people's largest asset.

Collective decisions. You will be outvoted, and you will be required to support the outcome. Council speaks with one voice.

Confidentiality. Council sees arrears, enforcement files, medical accommodation requests and legal advice. Discussing those in the elevator is the fastest way to lose a building's trust.

Conflicts. If your company, your family or your own unit is involved in a decision, you disclose, abstain, leave the room and do not lobby. All four, not the first two.

On the recurring question of whether any of this should be paid: it very rarely is in BC, and the reasons are set out in should strata council members be paid.

Your first ninety days

The gap between being elected and being useful is mostly reading.

Weeks one and two — read the constitution of your building. The registered bylaws and rules, the last two years of council minutes and AGM minutes, the current budget and the latest financial statements, the depreciation report, the insurance summary with its deductibles, and the strata plan. Start with how to read a BC strata plan and how to read your strata's financial statements; between them they answer most arguments before they start.

Weeks three and four — get oriented. Attend your first council meeting and mostly listen. Ask which decisions are outstanding and why. Walk the property with someone who knows it. Meet the strata manager and ask what they need from council to work efficiently.

Month two — pick one thing. New council members who try to reform everything achieve nothing. Choose a single fixable problem — the arrears process, an unreadable financial package, the fact that nobody knows what happened to last year's action items — and finish it.

Month three — understand the money's trajectory. Not this month's balance: whether the contingency reserve fund is on a path that matches the depreciation report, and what that implies for fees or a levy. What to do when your depreciation report says you are underfunded is the uncomfortable but necessary version of that conversation.

Two habits are worth forming immediately. Ask "what does the bylaw actually say" before deciding anything, and ask "is this a council decision or an owners' decision" before spending anything.

A word on the reception you may get. New council members are often met with a version of "we tried that and it didn't work," and sometimes that is institutional memory worth respecting — the quote really was too expensive, the bylaw really did get defeated twice. Ask which it is. Where the answer turns out to be nobody remembers, you have found the actual problem, and it is usually a records problem rather than a people problem. Buildings that lose their history relitigate the same decisions every three years, which is exhausting for everyone and expensive for the owners.

If nobody stands

Some buildings genuinely cannot fill a council, and it is worth naming what happens. Without a council, the powers and duties of the strata corporation fall to the owners collectively, which is unworkable for anything routine — and an owner or the strata can ultimately apply to have an administrator appointed to run the corporation. That is expensive and nobody's preferred outcome.

The more common middle path is to reduce what council has to carry. Professional management removes the administrative load and leaves council doing the part that genuinely requires owners: deciding. Where the shortfall is specifically bookkeeping and reporting, financial-only strata management covers less than full service at lower cost.

Frequently asked questions

Who can run for strata council in BC? Owners are eligible under the Strata Property Act, along with an individual representing a corporate owner and, where rights have been properly assigned, a tenant. Your bylaws can add restrictions — most commonly disqualifying owners in arrears — so check your registered bylaws.

Do I need to be nominated in advance to join a strata council? Usually not. Nominations are normally taken from the floor at the AGM and you can nominate yourself. Some stratas circulate a nomination form for convenience; unless the bylaws make it mandatory, it does not prevent a nomination on the night.

Can I be elected to strata council if I cannot attend the AGM? Yes, provided someone nominates you and your willingness to serve is confirmed. Put it in writing to the chair or the manager beforehand. A proxy lets someone vote on your behalf but does not by itself nominate you.

How long is a strata council term in BC? From one annual general meeting to the next, under the standard bylaws. There is no limit on how many consecutive terms you can serve, and council elects its own officers after each AGM.

How much time does being on strata council take? In a well-run small building, roughly two to four hours a month. During a major project, a building envelope failure or litigation it can be considerably more, which is why spreading the work across the whole council matters.

Related reading

• Strata Council Roles & Responsibilities in BC
• What a BC Strata Council President Can and Cannot Do
• How Small BC Stratas Can Recruit and Keep Council Volunteers
• The BC Strata AGM Prep Guide: Notice, Quorum & Timeline
• Strata Council Code of Conduct in BC

Council eligibility, elections and the standard of care sit in Part 4 of the Strata Property Act, and the default council rules are in the Schedule of Standard Bylaws.

New councils do their best work when the administration is already handled. Onehive provides strata management to small and mid-sized communities across Metro Vancouver — request a proposal.