Automating Strata Meeting Notices, Agendas, and Minutes

Meeting paperwork is where self-managed strata corporations most often slip. A notice sent three days too late, an agenda missing the exact wording of a 3/4 vote resolution, minutes nobody can find two years later — each of these can put a decision at risk. Good strata meeting software does not change the law, but it can take the date math and document trail off the council's shoulders.

What the Act requires, and what it leaves to your bylaws

A few meeting rules come straight from the Strata Property Act and cannot be varied by bylaw:

• An annual general meeting must be held no later than 2 months after the strata corporation's fiscal year end (s.40). The AGM can only be skipped if all eligible voters waive it in writing and consent in writing to the resolutions, including the budget and the election of council by acclamation (s.41).
• Notice of an AGM or SGM must be at least 2 weeks in writing, and must include a description of the matters that will be voted on — including the proposed wording of any resolution requiring a 3/4 vote, 80% vote or unanimous vote — plus the date, time and place, and instructions for electronic attendance if it is offered (s.45). Where a winding-up resolution will be considered, notice is at least 4 weeks and the right to notice cannot be waived.
• For an AGM, the notice must include the budget and financial statement. The budget is approved by majority vote, and may be amended by majority vote before the budget itself is put to a vote (s.103).

Other pieces are bylaw-dependent. Quorum, for example, is subject to the bylaws: the default 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 (s.48). Check your registered bylaws before your software's quorum calculator tells you anything.

AGM notice automation: the date math that catches councils out

This is the single best argument for agm notice automation. Notice given by mail, fax or email is conclusively deemed given 4 days after it is sent (s.61). So an emailed package needs to leave your outbox roughly 18 days before the meeting, not 14. Notice left with the person directly is not subject to that 4-day rule. Section 61 also sets out which delivery methods are available for a given owner — including email, but only to an address the person provided for receiving notices — so a compliant distribution list is not just "everyone's email."

A notice tool should also handle the other recipients: every owner, every mortgagee who has filed a Mortgagee's Request for Notification (s.60), and every tenant who has been assigned the landlord's right to vote where the strata has received notice of the assignment (s.147). Software that stores those flags against each strata lot is what stops the annual scramble.

Who controls the agenda?

The council determines the agenda — but not exclusively. Persons holding at least 20% of the strata corporation's votes may, by written demand, propose a resolution or raise a matter, and it must be included in the notice for the next AGM or SGM and on that meeting's agenda (s.46). The same 20% threshold lets owners demand an SGM, which the strata must hold within 4 weeks of the demand (8 weeks for a winding-up resolution), with the demanded item first on the agenda (s.43).

Electronic and hybrid meetings: common questions

Do we need a bylaw to hold an electronic or hybrid general meeting?
No. Since November 24, 2022, all BC strata corporations may hold electronic or hybrid general meetings and accept electronic votes without passing a bylaw.

What does the platform have to be able to do?
Under s.49, the notice must include instructions for attending electronically, the electronic means must let all attendees communicate with each other, and it must let the chair identify whether a person attending electronically is an eligible voter.

Can electronic attendees vote by secret ballot?
Despite the bylaws, a voting card is not required for electronic attendees and they are not entitled or required to vote by secret ballot (s.49). Someone attending electronically is deemed present in person.

Is a 3/4 vote three-quarters of all owners?
No. A 3/4 vote is at least 3/4 of the votes cast by eligible voters present in person or by proxy when the vote is taken, excluding abstentions (s.1). The Act's four thresholds are majority, 3/4, 80% and unanimous — an 80% vote and a unanimous vote count all eligible votes, present or not.

Minutes: template, retention, access

A usable strata minutes template bc council can reuse should capture who chaired, quorum, each resolution in its final wording, the threshold applied, and the recorded result. Minutes of general and council meetings must be kept for at least 6 years under Regulation s.4.1 — and on request, records must be made available within 2 weeks, except the bylaws and rules, which are due within one week (s.36). The Standard Bylaws also require the council to inform owners of the minutes of all council meetings within two weeks of the meeting, whether or not the minutes have been approved; if your strata has amended that bylaw, follow your registered version.

That retention duty is really a filing problem, which is why meeting automation pairs so naturally with document management for self-managed stratas. Tools like SearchStrata can run AI analysis across years of accumulated minutes and bylaws to answer "when did we approve that levy?" without a weekend in the filing cabinet, and AI can help councils draft cleaner agendas and summaries. ManageStrata builds the notice-timing and minutes workflow around the Act's deadlines so the dates are calculated rather than remembered. If you are still comparing options, our buyer's guide to condo management software in Canada covers what to look for.

There is no requirement to hire a property manager to do any of this — but automation does not excuse compliance. Confirm every template against your own registered bylaws before you rely on it.

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.