BC Depreciation Report Requirements (July 2026 Deadline)

Depreciation reports used to be optional in practice — a strata corporation could pass a 3/4 vote every three years and defer indefinitely. That waiver is gone. Under the current rules, a BC depreciation report is mandatory for most strata corporations, on a fixed schedule, prepared by a person who meets professional qualification requirements. For much of the province's strata housing, the first hard depreciation report deadline is July 1, 2026.

Here is what the Strata Property Act and the Strata Property Regulation actually require, and what it means for your budget.

Who has to obtain one

Section 94 of the Act requires a strata corporation to obtain, from a qualified person and by the dates set in the Regulation, a depreciation report estimating the repair and replacement cost for major items and the expected life of those items (s. 94).

The only broad exemption is size. Under Regulation s. 6.22, s. 94(2) does not apply for so long as there are fewer than 5 strata lots in the strata plan. So:

• 5 or more strata lots — a depreciation report is required.
• Fewer than 5 — exempt while that remains true.

There is no vote your owners can pass to opt out. The BC government's depreciation report requirements page confirms the 3/4-vote waiver has been removed.

The deadlines, precisely

Regulation s. 6.21 sets a specified area: the Capital Regional District, the Fraser Valley Regional District and the Metro Vancouver Regional District — excluding, in the CRD and Metro Vancouver, islands accessible only by air or boat.

• Strata corporations established before July 1, 2024 that have not obtained a depreciation report since December 31, 2020 must obtain one before July 1, 2026 if located wholly or partly in a specified area, or before July 1, 2027 if wholly outside it.
• Established on or after July 1, 2024 but before July 1, 2027 — first report no later than 2 years after the first annual general meeting.
• Established on or after July 1, 2027 — first report no later than 18 months after the first AGM.
• After that, a new report at least once every 5 years.

If your last report is dated 2021 or later, you are not caught by the 2026/2027 catch-up date — but the five-year renewal cycle still applies. If you are unsure what your strata has on file, an AI document search tool such as SearchStrata can help you find and date past reports buried in years of minutes and attachments.

Wondering about the consequences of drifting past the date? See what happens if your BC strata misses the depreciation report deadline.

What must be in the report

Regulation s. 6.2 is detailed. The report must include:

• A physical component inventory and evaluation based on an on-site visual inspection, describing components and estimated service life over 30 years — structure, exterior (roofs, roof decks, doors, windows, skylights), building systems, amenities, parking and roadways, utilities, landscaping, interior finishes, green building components, balconies and patios.
• Identification of common property and limited common property that the owner, not the strata, must maintain and repair.
• A summary of repairs and maintenance for common expenses that occur less often than annually.
• A financial forecasting section: 30-year cost projections, the assumptions used (interest and inflation), how the CRF is currently funded, the current CRF balance net of approved-but-unspent expenditures, and at least 3 cash-flow funding models.
• An executive summary, the report date, and the preparer's qualifications, errors-and-omissions insurance and relationship to the strata.

For reports obtained on or after July 1, 2025, the qualified person must also hold one of the credentials listed in s. 6.2(0.1)(b) — including a professional engineer or professional licensee engineering, architect or architectural technologist, applied science technologist or certified technician, AACI appraiser, certified reserve planner, or Professional Quantity Surveyor.

Questions owners actually ask

Q: Does the depreciation report force us to spend money?
No. It is a planning document. What it does change is voting and funding. Under s. 96, contingency reserve fund spending on repair, maintenance or replacement recommended in the most current depreciation report — of common property, common assets, or portions of a strata lot the strata has taken responsibility for under s. 72(3) — needs only a majority vote, not a 3/4 vote. So does obtaining the report itself. Most other CRF expenditures still require a 3/4 vote.

Q: Can we pay for the report out of the CRF?
Yes. Obtaining a depreciation report under s. 94 is one of the majority-vote cases in s. 96. Alternatively, s. 92 treats expenses necessary to obtain a depreciation report as operating fund expenses, so it can be budgeted there.

Q: Does it change our minimum CRF contribution?
Yes, indirectly. Regulation s. 6.1 requires the annual CRF contribution to be at least 10% of the total amount budgeted for the operating fund contribution, and to be determined after consideration of the most recent depreciation report. The old idea that no contribution is needed once the CRF reaches 25% of the operating budget is superseded and should never be relied on.

Q: Do purchasers see it?
Yes. The most recent depreciation report obtained under s. 94 is one of the required attachments to a Form B Information Certificate under the Regulation. It must also be retained permanently as a strata record.

Practical sequencing

Don't procure it in isolation. Many stratas are also facing the electrical planning report requirements, and the component inventory overlaps with items your fire and life-safety inspections already document. Gathering plans, past engineering reports and inspection records once — in a shared repository like ManageStrata — usually lowers the consultant's cost and improves the forecast.

A note on scope: what the report covers depends partly on your own registered bylaws, because s. 72 lets a strata make owners responsible for limited common property, or take on responsibility for specified portions of strata lots. Give your consultant the current filed bylaws, not the Standard Bylaws.

This article is general information about BC strata law, not legal advice; verify against the current Strata Property Act and Regulation or consult a BC strata lawyer.