Age-Restriction Bylaws After the 2022 Changes

The 2022 amendments to the Strata Property Act reshaped two of the most common bylaw categories in British Columbia: rental restrictions and age restrictions. Rental restriction bylaws were eliminated outright — section 141 says a strata corporation must not screen tenants, establish screening criteria, require approval of tenants, require terms in tenancy agreements, or otherwise restrict the rental of a strata lot. Age restrictions were not eliminated, but they were narrowed sharply.

If your strata has an age bylaw on title, or your council is fielding questions about who may move in, here is what the current law actually says.

The general rule: no age restrictions

Section 123.1 states the rule plainly: a bylaw must not restrict the age of persons who may reside in a strata lot, except as permitted by subsection (2).

That single exception is the 55+ strata bylaw. Under s.123.1(2), a strata corporation may pass a bylaw that requires one or more persons residing in a strata lot to have reached a specified age that is not less than 55 years.

Read that carefully, because the wording does real work:

• The threshold is a floor of 55. A bylaw may specify 55, or a higher age, but nothing below 55.
• The bylaw applies to one or more persons residing in the strata lot — it does not have to require that every resident meet the age. What your building requires depends on how your own registered bylaw is drafted.
• Anything else — "no children," maximum ages, restrictions aimed at particular family compositions — is not an age restriction the Act permits.

If your strata's registered bylaws still contain an age restriction that goes beyond what s.123.1 allows, that is a live legal problem worth putting to a strata lawyer rather than enforcing on the assumption it survived. The difference between a bylaw that sits in the Land Title Office and a bylaw that can be enforced is a distinction we unpack further in Strata Bylaws vs Rules in BC: What's the Difference?.

Who a 55+ bylaw does not apply to

Even a valid age bylaw does not apply to everyone. Section 123.2 lists people the age requirement does not apply to:

• Existing residents. A person who, immediately before the bylaw was passed, resided in the strata lot and was not contravening any age-restricting bylaw by doing so — and who continues to reside there after the bylaw is passed.
• Caregivers. A caregiver who resides in the strata lot to provide care to another person who resides there and is dependent on caregivers for continuing assistance or direction because of disability, illness or frailty.
• Prescribed classes of persons.

Those prescribed classes are set out in section 7.01 of the Strata Property Regulation. A "specified resident" is a resident who has reached the age in the bylaw (or who is exempt under s.123.2(a)). The prescribed classes are:

• a child (a person under 19) if one of the child's caregivers is a specified resident;
• a person 19 or older who resides in the strata lot with a specified resident who was one of that person's caregivers before they turned 19;
• the spouse of a specified resident — including a person living with them in a marriage-like relationship.

The practical effect: a qualifying 55+ resident's spouse, and children or grown children they raised, are not excluded by the bylaw regardless of age.

Questions and answers

Can a BC strata still pass a new age bylaw?
Yes, but only the 55+ type described in s.123.1(2), and only with a specified age of at least 55.

Can a strata ban children?
No. A bylaw restricting age is only permitted in the form s.123.1(2) allows, and the Regulation's prescribed classes expressly protect children of a specified resident.

Does a 55+ bylaw let us refuse a tenant who is 60?
No. Section 141 prohibits screening or approving tenants at all. An age bylaw regulates who may reside in the strata lot, not who may be granted a tenancy by an owner.

Can we enforce our age bylaw against someone who lived here before it passed?
Not if they meet the s.123.2(a) criteria and continue to reside there.

Passing, amending or repealing an age bylaw

Age bylaws follow the ordinary bylaw amendment process in section 128: approval at an annual or special general meeting by a 3/4 vote for a residential strata plan, then filing an Amendment to Bylaws in the Land Title Office. Until it is filed, the amendment has no effect (s.128(2)) — and the strata must inform owners and tenants of any approved amendment as soon as feasible (s.128(4)).

A "3/4 vote" is defined in section 1 as at least 3/4 of the votes cast by eligible voters present in person or by proxy when the vote is taken, excluding abstentions — not 3/4 of all owners.

Record the resolution wording exactly as voted; see How to Prepare AGM Minutes in BC for how that ties together. Councils that keep filed bylaws, minutes and resolutions in one place — ManageStrata is built for exactly that — spend far less time reconstructing which version is actually registered. If you are auditing an inherited bylaw set, tools like SearchStrata can use AI to surface age, rental and other clauses across a large document package before you send it to counsel.

Self-managed councils carrying this work in-house may also find How to Self-Manage a Strata in BC useful.

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.