Strata GovernanceJuly 9, 2026 · 7 min read

Strata Council Roles & Responsibilities in BC

A plain-English guide to what a BC strata council does: who serves, the president and treasurer roles, the legal duties under the Strata Property Act, and its limits.

A strata council is the small group of owners your building elects to run the strata corporation between general meetings — maintaining common property, managing the budget and reserve fund, enforcing bylaws, and making decisions for all owners within the limits set by BC's Strata Property Act.

What a strata council is (and isn't)

In BC, the strata corporation is the legal entity that owns and manages the common property. But the corporation can't act on its own — that job falls to the strata council, a group of owners elected at the annual general meeting (AGM) to act on everyone's behalf.

Think of council as a volunteer board of directors. It doesn't own the building, and it doesn't get to do whatever it likes. It carries out the will of the owners, guided by the Strata Property Act, the regulations, and your strata's own bylaws.

Under Section 26 of the Act, the council must exercise the powers and perform the duties of the strata corporation — including enforcing bylaws and rules. That one sentence carries a lot of weight, and the rest of this guide unpacks it.

Who can sit on council, and how many

The Standard Bylaws set the default size, unless your strata has amended them:

Council must have between three and seven members.
If your strata has fewer than four strata lots (or fewer than four owners), all owners sit on council automatically.

Council members are elected at the AGM, usually for a term running until the next AGM. In most stratas, eligibility is limited to owners, though a few situations broaden it — for example, an individual can represent a corporate owner, and a tenant who has been assigned the landlord's rights and duties under the Act can stand for council.

Nothing forces anyone to volunteer, which is exactly why filling seats can be hard in smaller buildings. (Wondering whether council members can be compensated for their time? See our guide on whether strata council members should be paid.)

The four officer roles

After each AGM, the new council meets and elects four officers from among its members:

President — chairs council and general meetings, and is often the main point of contact with the strata manager. The president keeps meetings orderly and makes sure decisions actually get made.
Vice-president — steps in with the president's authority when the president is unavailable.
Secretary — responsible for notices, minutes, and the strata's records. Accurate minutes and proper notice matter more than people realise; sloppy records cause real disputes.
Treasurer — oversees the finances: the budget, monthly statements, the operating account, and the contingency reserve fund (CRF).

One person can hold more than one office — except that the president and vice-president must be two different people. In a small self-managed strata, doubling up (say, a secretary-treasurer) is common and perfectly legal.

What the council actually does

Day to day, council responsibilities fall into a handful of buckets:

Maintenance and repair. Council arranges the upkeep of common property and common assets — roofs, elevators, landscaping, the building envelope, shared plumbing. This is usually where most of the money and stress goes.

Money. Council prepares the annual budget for owners to approve, collects strata fees, pays the bills, and maintains the contingency reserve fund. It also has to plan for big-ticket repairs, which is where depreciation reports come in — see our explainer on the 2026 depreciation report deadline.

Insurance. Council must place and maintain the strata's insurance and review coverage regularly. The deductible matters, because owners can be on the hook for it — see water damage and the strata deductible.

Bylaw enforcement. Council investigates complaints and enforces bylaws and rules fairly and consistently. There's a strict legal process for this, covered in strata bylaw enforcement and fines.

Records and communication. Council keeps the strata's records, issues Form B and Form F certificates on request, and gives owners proper notice of meetings.

Meetings. Council must hold the AGM each year and can call special general meetings (SGMs) when bigger decisions are needed. Our AGM prep guide walks through notice, quorum, and timing.

The legal standard every council member is held to

This is the part new council members most often miss. Section 31 of the Strata Property Act sets a genuine legal duty. Each council member must:

act honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of the strata corporation, and
exercise the care, diligence and skill of a reasonably prudent person in comparable circumstances.

You don't have to be an expert. You do have to act reasonably, do your homework, and put the community ahead of yourself.

Two related sections back this up:

Section 32 — conflict of interest. If you have a direct or indirect interest in a contract, transaction, or matter before council, you must disclose it fully and promptly, not vote on it, and leave the room while it's discussed and decided.
Section 33 — accountability. If a council member ignores those conflict rules and the deal turns out to be unfair to the strata, a court can unwind it and order the member to hand back any profit.

Acting in good faith, disclosing conflicts, and keeping decisions transparent isn't just good manners — it's the law. Many stratas formalise these expectations in a council code of conduct.

The limits on council power

Council runs the show between meetings, but it isn't all-powerful:

Owners can rein it in. By a majority vote at a general meeting, owners can direct or restrict council in how it exercises its powers (Section 26).
Big decisions need the owners. Amending bylaws, approving special levies, and significant changes to common property generally need a 3/4 vote of owners — council can't decide these alone. (Here's how to change strata bylaws.)
Spending has limits. Beyond the approved budget, council's spending authority is constrained; unbudgeted or over-limit spending can be challenged.
The CRT is watching. Owners who feel council has acted in a "significantly unfair" way can take the strata to BC's Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT), which handles most strata disputes.

When councils overstep — enforcing bylaws inconsistently, spending outside their authority, or freezing owners out — that's often what people mean by a difficult council. If that's your situation, see dealing with a difficult or bullying strata council.

A quick self-check for councils

If your council can answer "yes" to these, you're on solid ground:

Are we following our own bylaws and the Standard Bylaws consistently?
Are decisions recorded in minutes, with proper notice given for meetings?
Are conflicts of interest disclosed and handled cleanly?
Is spending within the approved budget or properly authorised by owners?
Are we maintaining the reserve fund and planning for major repairs?

Frequently asked questions

How long is a strata council member's term in BC? Under the Standard Bylaws, council is elected at each AGM and serves until the next AGM — effectively a one-year term. Members can stand for re-election. Your bylaws can set different terms, so check them.

Can a strata function without a council? It must have one. If no one stands, the strata can struggle to operate, and in serious cases the CRT or court can appoint an administrator to run it. Recruiting council members is far better than reaching that point.

Do council members get paid? Usually not — the role is a volunteer one. Some stratas approve a modest honorarium or reimburse out-of-pocket expenses if their bylaws allow. See our dedicated guide.

Are council members personally liable? The Act protects members who act honestly, in good faith, and within their duties under Section 31. Members who ignore conflict-of-interest rules or act in bad faith can lose that protection.