Significant Changes to Common Property: When Owners Must Vote

One of the most common sources of conflict in a self-managed BC strata is the question of who gets to say yes to work on common property. An owner wants to enclose a balcony. The council wants to replace the lobby doors with a different style. Someone wants to install an EV charger in their parking stall. Each of these may need a different level of approval — and getting the level wrong can leave the decision open to challenge years later.

Two different approvals, often confused

There are two separate approval mechanisms, and they are not alternatives to each other:

• Written approval from the strata corporation for an owner's alteration. Under Standard Bylaw 6, an owner must obtain the written approval of the strata corporation before altering common property, including limited common property, or common assets. Standard Bylaw 5 does the same for listed alterations to a strata lot — the structure or exterior of a building; chimneys, stairs, balconies or other things attached to the exterior; doors, windows or skylights on the exterior or fronting on common property; fences, railings or similar structures enclosing a patio, balcony or yard; common property located inside the strata lot; and the parts of the strata lot the corporation must insure under section 149. This approval comes in writing from the corporation — in practice from the council exercising the corporation's powers under section 34 — not from a vote of the owners at a general meeting.
• An owners' vote under section 71, required in addition, but only where the work amounts to a significant change in the use or appearance of common property or land that is a common asset.

What section 71 actually says

Under section 71, a strata corporation must not make a significant change in the use or appearance of common property or land that is a common asset unless:

• there are reasonable grounds to believe an immediate change is necessary to ensure safety or prevent significant loss or damage; or
• the change is approved by a resolution at an annual or special general meeting — by a majority vote where the change relates to installing EV charging infrastructure or managing the electricity it uses, and by a 3/4 vote for any other change.

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. It is not 3/4 of all owners and not 3/4 of all strata lots. Recording that distinction properly matters when you write up the resolution — see our guide on preparing AGM minutes.

Q&A: the questions councils actually ask

Is every alteration to common property a "significant change"?
No. The Act does not define the phrase, and whether a particular change is significant turns on the facts — the visibility of the work, how much of the property it affects, whether it changes how an area is used, and how it looks from outside. Routine repair and maintenance that restores common property to its existing condition is a different exercise from changing its use or appearance. Where it is genuinely borderline, many councils put the resolution to the owners anyway rather than risk the decision being unwound.

Can owners vote to approve an alteration at a general meeting instead of the council approving it in writing?
The two are not interchangeable. A 3/4 vote authorises the significant change; the written approval under the bylaws is what permits the individual owner to carry out work on common property, and it is where conditions are attached. A simple majority vote is never the threshold for approving an owner's alteration request.

Does work inside my unit ever count?
It can. Ownership ends at the strata lot boundary shown on the strata plan, and pipes, wires and other service facilities located within a strata lot can still be common property under the definition in section 1. Limited common property is still common property — exclusive use is not ownership.

Conditions the strata can attach

Both Standard Bylaws 5(2) and 6(2) allow the strata corporation to require, as a condition of approval, that the owner agree in writing to take responsibility for any expenses relating to the alteration. Bylaw 5(2) also says approval must not be unreasonably withheld. That agreement is an assumption-of-responsibility document for costs — commonly future maintenance, repair and replacement, plus costs the strata incurs because of the alteration. It is not a blanket liability waiver and it does not shift the corporation's statutory repair, maintenance or insurance duties. Note that existing alteration agreements are a disclosure item on the Form B Information Certificate, so sloppy paperwork resurfaces at every sale.

EV charging: a different path

Where an owner asks to alter common property to install EV charging infrastructure for a parking stall, sections 90.1 to 90.3 set out a dedicated process. The corporation may approve the request if any significant-change element has been approved under section 71(b) and the prescribed criteria are met; it must not unreasonably refuse; it may impose reasonable written conditions; and where it approves, the owner is responsible for the expenses of making the alteration unless otherwise agreed.

Limited common property is its own decision

Designating common property as limited common property is not an alteration at all. Under section 74 it takes a 3/4 vote and has no effect until the resolution and sketch plan are filed in the land title office; under section 75, removing a designation made that way takes another 3/4 vote, while a designation made by the owner developer or by plan amendment can only be removed by amending the strata plan under section 257 — which requires a unanimous vote.

Practical steps for councils

• Confirm what is being altered and whether the strata plan shows it as strata lot, common property or limited common property.
• Read your own registered bylaws, which often go further than the Standard Bylaws; the difference between a bylaw and a rule matters here, as explained in bylaws vs rules.
• Decide whether the change is significant enough to need a section 71 resolution, and put it on the agenda with proper notice if it is.
• Document the written approval, its conditions, and the owner's signed expense agreement — and keep them where a future council can find them. Tools like SearchStrata can help owners and councils analyse strata document packages with AI to surface past alteration approvals and resolutions, and ManageStrata keeps those approvals attached to the unit for the life of the building.

If council denies a request, there is no statutory right to appeal that decision at a general meeting. An owner or tenant may request a hearing at a council meeting, and beyond that the routes are the Civil Resolution Tribunal or the courts, including a claim that the decision was significantly unfair under section 164. Councils running their own governance without a manager may find our self-management guide useful for building these steps into a repeatable process.

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.