Making a Complaint to Your Strata — and How Council Should Handle One
Most strata fines fail not because the conduct was acceptable, but because the complaint was never handled the way the Act requires. Both sides of the process, in order.
An owner emails council: "The people in 304 are impossible. Something needs to be done." Council forwards it to the manager. The manager sends 304 a letter warning of fines. Nobody has written down what actually happened, when, or which bylaw it breached.
Six months later there is a $1,600 fine, a furious owner, and a tribunal file the strata will lose — not because the conduct was acceptable, but because the complaint was never handled as the Act requires. Getting the process right protects everyone, including the person who complained.
This article is general information about the Strata Property Act and is not legal advice. Your registered bylaws set the rules that apply to your building, so read them alongside this.
Two different things called "a complaint"
Untangling these is most of the battle.
A bylaw complaint says another resident has breached a bylaw or rule — noise, smoking, parking, pets, an unapproved alteration. This is the type the Act regulates, and it can end in a fine or an order to remedy.
A governance complaint says the strata itself is failing — council is not responding, the finances are opaque, the manager does not return calls, a decision was unfair. There is no fine at the end of this one; the remedies are different and are set out further down.
Sending the second type through the first type's process is why so many complaints go nowhere.
Making a bylaw complaint that actually works
Council can only act on what it can prove. Give it something usable.
Put it in writing. Email is fine. A verbal complaint in the lobby creates no record, and no record means no enforceable outcome.
Be specific. Date, time, duration, what happened, which unit. "Ongoing noise" is unusable. "Bass audible in my bedroom from 11:40pm to 1:15am on 3, 7 and 12 November, from the unit directly above" is a file council can act on.
Name the bylaw if you can. It focuses the response and tells council which process applies.
Attach evidence where it exists — dated photographs, a log kept over a few weeks, a decibel reading. A contemporaneous log is worth more than a long recollection.
Say what outcome you want. Often it is simply that it stops. Say so; it makes an informal resolution far easier.
Try the neighbour first, where it is safe to do so. A surprising share of complaints are about something the other resident does not know is a problem. Where the situation involves threats, harassment or safety, do not — go straight to council, and where a crime may have occurred, to the police. Strata issue or police matter? draws that line.
Expect to be identifiable. The person complained about is entitled to the particulars of the complaint, and in a small building the details usually identify the complainant regardless of whether their name is used. Anonymous complaints are weak evidence and often cannot be acted on at all.
What council must do next
This is the part that gets skipped, and it is not optional. Before imposing a fine or requiring an owner or tenant to pay the cost of remedying a contravention, the strata corporation must:
- Receive a complaint. Council needs something to act on — not a councillor's own observation dressed up after the fact.
- Give the owner or tenant the particulars of the complaint in writing. Enough detail that they can actually answer it: what, when, which bylaw.
- Give them a reasonable opportunity to answer, including a hearing if they request one.
- Decide, and give written notice of the decision as soon as feasible.
Skip any of those and the fine is vulnerable. The Civil Resolution Tribunal reverses fines on this ground routinely, and the strata usually pays the tribunal fees for the privilege. Strata bylaw enforcement and fines in BC walks through the full sequence, including limits on fine amounts and how often they can be levied.
Three additional obligations sit around that process. Consistency — enforcing against one owner while ignoring the same conduct elsewhere is how a valid bylaw becomes a losing case; see "significantly unfair" strata decisions in BC. Privacy — complaint files contain personal information, and minutes should record that "an owner" was fined rather than naming and shaming. Accommodation — where the conduct relates to a disability, human rights obligations may modify what the strata can enforce.
A workable council intake process
Councils that handle complaints well tend to run something like this.
Log everything on receipt, with a date. A simple register — date received, complainant, unit complained of, bylaw, status — prevents the two failure modes: complaints that vanish, and complaints that get escalated straight to a fine.
Triage into three buckets. Not a bylaw matter, so redirect. A bylaw matter warranting an informal letter first. A bylaw matter going straight into the formal process because of severity or history.
Send the informal letter first in most cases. A short, neutral note describing the complaint and asking for it to stop resolves the majority of files at almost no cost, and it does not prejudice the formal process later.
Where it escalates, follow the four steps above precisely and minute each one.
Close the loop with the complainant. Not with the details of any penalty — that is the other owner's personal information — but confirming that the complaint was received, considered and acted on. Complainants escalate mostly because they think they were ignored.
Review the pattern annually. Ten noise complaints about different units is a building-wide flooring or construction issue, not ten bad neighbours. Noise complaints in a strata often turn out to be a common property question rather than a conduct one.
Complaining about the strata itself
Different problem, different tools, roughly in this order.
Write to council setting out the issue and the outcome you want, and keep the copy.
Request the records. Minutes, financial statements, correspondence and bylaws are yours to inspect, and the strata must respond within the statutory timeframe. Most governance complaints are resolved or substantiated by the paperwork.
Request a council hearing. You have a right to be heard in person, and council must hold the hearing within the period the Act allows. See strata council hearings in BC.
Use the general meeting. Owners can requisition a special general meeting and put a resolution to it — including removing council members. How strata owners can call an SGM and how to remove a strata council member cover the mechanics.
Take it to the Civil Resolution Tribunal. Records, unfair treatment, defective meetings, repair responsibility, disputed fines — nearly all of it is CRT territory, with no monetary cap.
If the problem is the management company, that is a separate channel: raise it with the brokerage's managing broker in writing, and if it is a licensing or conduct issue, the BC Financial Services Authority regulates strata managers. Where it is a service problem rather than a conduct one, signs it's time to switch your strata management company is the more useful frame.
If a complaint has been made about you
Do not ignore it, and do not fire back the same day.
Answer in writing, within the time given. Silence is treated as no answer, and council then decides without your side.
Ask for particulars if the complaint is vague. You are entitled to enough detail to respond, and a strata that cannot supply it has a problem, not you.
Request a hearing if the facts are disputed or there is context council does not have.
Check the bylaw as registered rather than as described in the letter. Some enforcement letters cite rules that were never filed at the Land Title Office, or bylaws that would not survive scrutiny — see unenforceable strata bylaws in BC.
Keep it factual. Your response ends up in the file that a tribunal member may later read, and the calm letter reads considerably better a year later than the furious one.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make a formal complaint to my strata in BC? Put it in writing to council, with the date, time and duration of what happened, the unit involved, the bylaw you believe was breached, and any dated evidence. Say what outcome you are looking for. Verbal complaints create no record and generally cannot support enforcement.
Can I complain to my strata anonymously? You can submit one, but it is weak. The Act requires the strata to give the owner complained of the particulars of the complaint, and in a small building those details usually identify the source anyway. Anonymous complaints often cannot be acted on.
What must a BC strata do before fining an owner? Receive a complaint, give the owner or tenant written particulars of it, provide a reasonable opportunity to answer including a hearing if requested, and give written notice of the decision as soon as feasible. Missing any step puts the fine at risk.
What if my strata ignores my complaint? Request the records, then request a council hearing, both of which the strata must respond to within set timeframes. If that does not resolve it, owners can requisition a special general meeting or file a claim with the Civil Resolution Tribunal.
Who do I complain to about a strata management company? Start with the brokerage's managing broker in writing. Strata managers in BC are licensed and regulated by the BC Financial Services Authority, which handles conduct and licensing complaints. Service quality issues are usually better dealt with by council reviewing the contract.
Related reading
- Strata Bylaw Enforcement & Fines in BC: How to Do It Right
- Strata Council Hearings in BC: Your Right to Be Heard
- Strata Issue or Police Matter? Handling Disputes and Nuisance in BC
- Dealing With a Difficult or Bullying Strata Council in BC
- Strata Rules vs Bylaws in BC: What's the Difference?
The complaint and enforcement provisions sit in Part 7 of the Strata Property Act, and the standard bylaws are in the Schedule of Standard Bylaws.
A neutral third party receiving complaints takes most of the heat out of them. Onehive provides strata management to communities across Metro Vancouver — request a proposal.
Written by
Onehive Property Management manages strata corporations and rental properties across British Columbia. Our guides are written by the people who do the work — council meetings, budgets, insurance renewals and all — and reviewed against the Strata Property Act before publishing.