When you buy a condo or townhouse in British Columbia, you're buying two things: your home, and a share of a building you co-own with everyone else. The second part is where the surprises live — and the strata documents are where those surprises are written down, usually months or years before they reach your bank account.
Here's what matters in that stack of paperwork, and how I read it.
A depreciation report is a professional assessment of a building's major components — roof, windows, plumbing, elevators, envelope — with estimates of how long each will last and what replacement will cost. It is, in effect, the building's long-term budget.
The rules tightened recently: strata corporations with five or more lots in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, and the Capital Regional District must now have a current depreciation report on a five-year cycle, and they can no longer vote to waive it.
What I look for: which components are nearing the end of their service life in the next 5–10 years, what those replacements are projected to cost, and whether the strata's savings plan comes anywhere close to covering them. A roof reaching end-of-life with no funding plan is a special levy waiting to be announced.
The CRF is the strata's savings account for major repairs. The number itself means little in isolation — a $400,000 fund is healthy for a small townhouse complex and thin for a 200-unit tower with an aging envelope. What matters is the fund relative to what the depreciation report says is coming.
A well-funded strata charges slightly higher monthly fees and rarely surprises you. An underfunded one charges attractively low fees until the day it doesn't. Low strata fees are not automatically good news.
If you read only one thing, read the council and annual general meeting minutes for the last 24 months. The Form B tells you where the building stands today; the minutes tell you where it's heading. Watch for:
This is the strata's official snapshot: current fees, money owed on the unit, approved special levies, the CRF balance, parking and storage assignments, insurance summary, and any court proceedings or work orders. Two practical notes — a Form B goes stale after 60 days, so make sure yours is current, and check that the parking stall and locker you were shown actually match what's listed.
Read these before you fall in love with the place. They govern pets, renovations, short-term rentals, and how the building is run day to day. Note that provincial law now limits a strata's ability to restrict long-term rentals and to set age restrictions other than 55+ — but bylaws vary, and if you're buying as an investment, this section decides whether your plan is even possible.
Fifteen years of construction management and cost control means I read a depreciation report the way I'd read a project budget: not just "what does it say," but "are these numbers realistic, and what's missing?" Deferred maintenance in a building has the same character as deferred maintenance on a job site — it never gets cheaper by waiting.
To be clear about my role: I'm not a building inspector or engineer, and I'll always recommend the right specialist when one is needed. But I can tell you which documents to demand, what questions to ask, and when something in the paperwork deserves a second look before you remove your subjects.
One timely note: apartment sales across Metro Vancouver were down 18.6% year over year in September, while detached and townhouse sales edged up. That means condo buyers currently have unusual selection and time — exactly the conditions in which reading the documents properly pays off. The current figures are always on my Market Stats page.
Every buyer and seller is different — I'm happy to walk you through what applies to you.