Most Strata Disputes Start With Information Someone Couldn't See

The special levy notice goes out in November, and within a day the inbox fills with the same sentence written six different ways: this is the first I'm hearing of it. The council knows that isn't quite true — the engineer's report was discussed in the spring, the quotes came in over the summer, the numbers were in the minutes. But "it was in the minutes" and "owners saw it" are not the same thing.

That gap is where most strata conflict between owners and council begins. Not bad faith, usually — just information that stayed inside one room, arrived after the decision, or sat in a filing cabinet nobody thought to open. This post covers what the Act already entitles people to see, how fast it has to be produced, and what to do when seeing the record doesn't settle the disagreement.

The dispute is rarely about the decision

Ask an owner why they're upset about a levy, a rule enforcement, or a repair, and the answer often has nothing to do with the merits. It's that they couldn't trace how the decision was made. Strata transparency isn't a courtesy — it's the cheapest conflict prevention a council has, because an owner who can read the reasoning usually argues about the reasoning instead of about the council.

The pattern repeats in three forms:

• Information nobody could see — a report, quote or legal opinion referenced but never circulated.
• Information that arrived late — accurate, complete, and delivered after the moment it mattered.
• Information that left with someone — a manager changes, a council turns over, and the institutional memory walks out the door.

What owners are entitled to see, and how quickly

The Strata Property Act does not leave access to goodwill. Under section 36, on request the strata corporation must make its section 35 records available for inspection and provide copies to an owner, to a tenant assigned that right, or to a person either of them authorises in writing. Former owners and former tenants may request records relating to their period of ownership or tenancy. The corporation must comply within two weeks — except a request for the bylaws or rules, which must be met within one week. A copying fee may be charged, capped by the Strata Property Regulation.

The Information Certificate is the other window. Under section 59, a Form B must be given within one week of a request by an owner, a purchaser, or someone authorised by either, and it discloses monthly fees, amounts owing, approved special levies not yet paid, the contingency reserve fund balance, unfiled bylaw amendments, outstanding notices or work orders, parking and locker allocations, and a summary of insurance coverage. Section 59(4) requires exactly three attachments: the rules, the current budget, and the most recent depreciation report, if any, obtained under section 94. The bylaws themselves are not attached — but unfiled bylaw amendments are, and they are listed on the Form B itself. The maximum fee is $35 plus reproduction costs of up to 25 cents per page (Regulation s.4.4).

Knowing which documents exist and how long they must be kept is half the battle; our guide to strata records and document retention breaks down the different retention periods the Regulation sets.

Questions councils and owners actually ask

Q: Can council refuse a records request because the owner is "being difficult"?
No. The entitlement under section 36 belongs to the requester, not to council's assessment of their motives. The timelines are two weeks generally, one week for bylaws and rules.

Q: A council member's brother-in-law is bidding on the roof. What has to happen?
Section 32 requires a council member with a direct or indirect interest in a contract, transaction or matter before council to disclose the nature and extent of that interest fully and promptly, abstain from voting, and leave the meeting while it is discussed and voted on — unless council asks them to stay to provide information. Recording that in the minutes is what later proves the decision was clean.

Q: Can an owner appeal a council decision at the AGM?
There is no statutory right to do that. What the Act provides is section 34.1: an owner or tenant may request a hearing at a council meeting by written application stating the reason, council must hold the meeting within four weeks, and where the purpose is to seek a decision, council must give a written decision within one week of the hearing.

Q: Do council members have to attend in person?
Under Standard Bylaw 16, council members must be present in person to be counted in establishing quorum, and quorum scales with council size. Many strata corporations have amended that bylaw — check your own registered bylaws rather than assuming.

When the record doesn't settle it

Some disagreements survive full disclosure. The Act allows, but never requires, an in-house route: section 124 permits bylaws to provide a voluntary dispute resolution process, and expressly prohibits making it mandatory or giving anyone power to make a binding decision. Standard Bylaw 29 sets out one version — a committee formed with the consent of all parties, for disputes involving the Act, regulations, bylaws or rules, whose job is simply to help the parties end the dispute voluntarily. Using it does not affect anyone's right to go to the Civil Resolution Tribunal, and section 124 keeps what is said there out of later proceedings. If it reaches that point, our overview of resolving strata disputes at the CRT walks through the process.

What a healthy strata does about it

Open by default is the commitment this topic lives under: disputes shrink when everyone is reading the same document and nobody has to ask twice.

• Circulate the reasoning, not just the outcome. The quote, the report, the vote count — not a one-line resolution.
• Answer records requests on a calendar, not a mood. One week, two weeks; diarise them.
• Minute conflicts, abstentions and departures from the room at the time, not after someone complains.
• Tell owners things before they need them. Steady communication is prevention; see communicating with owners.
• Keep the record with the corporation. Councils turn over and managers change; the minutes, votes and books shouldn't.

That last point is the one buildings most often learn the hard way. ManageStrata exists partly for it — the documents, minutes, votes and books belong to the corporation and stay when the council or the management company changes, with a full export available to council at any time. For making sense of a pile of historical documents you've inherited, tools like SearchStrata can analyse strata documents and surface what's actually in them.

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.