How to Prepare AGM Minutes in BC

Annual general meeting minutes are one of the few strata records almost everyone eventually reads: buyers, lawyers, insurers, the Civil Resolution Tribunal, and owners who missed the meeting. Good minutes are short, factual, and precise about what was decided and by what margin. Poor minutes create disputes that outlive the council that wrote them.

Why AGM minutes matter

Minutes of annual and special general meetings — including the results of votes — are part of the records a strata corporation must keep under section 35 of the Strata Property Act. They are not a courtesy document.

They are also the proof that a decision was validly made. If a resolution later has to be filed in the Land Title Office — a bylaw amendment, or a resolution certified using Form E — the filed document must conform to the resolution the owners actually passed. Minutes that paraphrase the wording make that impossible to verify.

What belongs in AGM minutes

The Act does not prescribe a template, so practice varies between strata corporations. A defensible set of minutes generally records:

• Date, time and place, and whether attendance by telephone or other electronic means was available.
• Confirmation that notice was given as required, and that quorum was present. Under section 48, quorum is eligible voters holding 1/3 of the votes present in person or by proxy — or 2/3 where there are fewer than 4 strata lots or fewer than 4 owners — subject to the bylaws, which may set something different.
• Number of eligible votes represented, in person and by proxy. One strata lot, one vote; unit entitlement does not weight votes.
• The exact wording of every resolution requiring a 3/4 vote, 80% vote or unanimous vote, which must already have appeared in the notice under section 45(3).
• The result of each vote, including votes for, against, and abstentions where counted.
• Election results, and any acclamation.
• Approval of the budget, which owners approve by majority vote.

For notice and quorum mechanics before the meeting, see our guide to BC strata AGM notice and quorum requirements.

Get the vote thresholds right

The Act uses exactly four thresholds: majority vote, 3/4 vote, 80% vote and unanimous vote. Terms like "ordinary resolution" or "special resolution" come from other jurisdictions and appear nowhere in the Strata Property Act — don't put them in your minutes.

Under section 1:

• A 3/4 vote is at least 3/4 of the votes cast by eligible voters present in person or by proxy who have not abstained. It is not 3/4 of all owners, and abstentions do not count against the resolution.
• A majority vote is more than 1/2 of the votes cast, on the same basis.
• An 80% vote and a unanimous vote are measured against all the votes of all eligible voters — present or not — a materially higher bar.

So minutes should say "passed by 3/4 vote: 22 for, 5 against, 2 abstentions" rather than "passed by 3/4 of owners."

Recording electronic and hybrid meetings

Since November 24, 2022, all BC strata corporations may hold electronic or hybrid general meetings and accept electronic votes without passing a bylaw. Section 49 requires that the notice include instructions for attending electronically, that the platform let all attendees communicate with each other, and that the chair be able to identify whether an electronic attendee is an eligible voter. Attendees by electronic means are deemed present in person; they are not entitled or required to vote by secret ballot, and no voting card is required. Note in the minutes how eligibility was verified. More detail is in our post on electronic voting at BC strata meetings.

Questions councils ask about AGM minutes

Who prepares and signs them? The Act does not assign the task. In practice the secretary, another council member, or a strata manager drafts them; a self-managed council can do this perfectly well, and platforms like ManageStrata exist to keep the record organized. If your bylaws assign minute-taking, follow your bylaws.

Is there a deadline to circulate AGM minutes? The Act does not set one for general meeting minutes. The Standard Bylaws impose a two-week deadline on informing owners of council meeting minutes, and many strata corporations have adopted their own timeline for AGM minutes — check your registered bylaws. Separately, on request the strata must make records available and provide copies within 2 weeks (one week for bylaws and rules) under section 36, and owners must be informed of an approved bylaw amendment as soon as feasible under section 128(4).

Do minutes have to be "approved" at the next AGM? Nothing in the Act requires it. It is a common practice, and some bylaws provide for it. Minutes are a record of what happened, not a resolution — correct errors of fact rather than rewriting outcomes.

How long must we keep them? Minutes of general and council meetings must be kept for at least 6 years under Regulation section 4.1. Some records — the registered strata plan, resolutions dealing with changes to common property, depreciation reports — are kept permanently. Don't describe minutes as retained "indefinitely" as a statutory rule.

Two after-the-meeting traps

• Bylaw amendments have no effect until filed. Under section 128, an approved amendment must be filed in the land title office in the prescribed form. Your minutes are the source of the wording, so record it verbatim.
• New strata corporations are different. Under section 127, in a bare land or all-residential strata plan no bylaw amendment may be made before the second AGM unless passed by a unanimous vote.

When you need to search years of minutes for what was actually decided about a leak, a levy or an alteration, tools such as SearchStrata can apply AI analysis across a document set. And if your council is weighing whether to stay self-managed, our comparison on choosing a strata management company in BC covers the trade-offs.

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.