Voting and resolutions
The Act's four vote thresholds — majority, 3/4, 80% and unanimous — how electronic voting and proxies work, and how a result is finalized.
A resolution is a decision put to the owners. The threshold determines how many votes it needs, and choosing the wrong one is one of the few mistakes that can invalidate an otherwise proper decision.
The four thresholds
The Strata Property Act defines four thresholds and names them directly. It does not use "ordinary resolution" or "special resolution" — those are Ontario, Alberta and UK company-law terms, and you will not find either phrase in your own bylaws. Describing something on a notice as a "special resolution" rather than as "a resolution requiring a 3/4 vote" invites an argument about whether owners were properly told what they were voting on.
| Threshold | Needs | Typically used for |
|---|---|---|
| Majority vote | More than 1/2 of the votes cast | The annual budget, electing council, most ordinary business |
| 3/4 vote | At least 3/4 of the votes cast | Bylaw amendments, special levies allocated by unit entitlement, most CRF expenditure, significant alterations to common property |
| 80% vote | At least 80% of all eligible votes | Winding up, and certain dispositions of common property |
| Unanimous vote | All the votes of all eligible voters, present or not | Changing the strata fee formula (s.100); special levies allocated on any basis other than unit entitlement (s.108(2)) |
The denominators are not the same
Majority and 3/4 count the votes cast at the meeting. 80% and unanimous count every eligible vote in the corporation, whether that owner turned up or not.
This is why "use the higher threshold when in doubt" is not safe advice here: a council reaching for 3/4 as the higher bar still falls short of an 80% vote, and a resolution carried 12–0 at a thinly-attended meeting is not unanimous if the corporation has 30 lots.
ManageStrata applies the threshold from your province's rule set. For an 80% or unanimous vote it needs to know your total eligible votes, and it will refuse to declare a result rather than quietly measuring against turnout.
Writing a resolution
Resolutions are read literally, sometimes years later by someone with an interest in a narrow reading. Write accordingly.
Weak: "That the strata fix the parkade."
Better: "That the Strata Corporation approve the replacement of the parkade membrane in accordance with the quotation from Acme Waterproofing dated 12 May 2026 in the amount of $180,000, funded by a special levy allocated in accordance with unit entitlement, payable in two instalments due 1 August 2026 and 1 November 2026."
The second one answers what, how much, from where, and by when. The first will produce an argument.
The wording on the notice is the wording voted on
It can't be materially changed at the meeting. Settle the wording before notice goes out.
Who votes
Votes belong to lots, not people: one strata lot, one vote (s.53). Unit entitlement does not weight votes — it governs strata fees and special-levy allocation only, and no bylaw can change that.
The single exception is a strata plan that includes non-residential lots, which carries a Schedule of Voting Rights setting out the votes per lot. That schedule is filed with the plan and cannot be altered by bylaw.
Owners in arrears
In BC an owner in arrears loses their vote only if all three of these hold:
- Your corporation has passed a bylaw saying so (s.53(2)). Without one, an owner in arrears votes normally.
- The debt is one you could register a lien for under s.116 — strata fees, special levies, s.85 costs, or a judgment.
- The matter is not one requiring an 80% or unanimous vote.
Fines, user fees and chargebacks are not lien-able, so an owner who owes only fines keeps their vote regardless. A council that strikes a fined owner off the voting list has invalidated the vote. See arrears and interest.
Electronic voting
Small strataElectronic voting is available on the Small strata plan and above.
Open a resolution for voting and owners with a login cast For, Against or Abstain from their own device. The tally is live.
Resolution 3 · Majority vote
Approve the depreciation-report engagement
Live · 30 cast · quorum met
Owners without a login, or attending in person, have their vote recorded on their behalf by whoever is running the meeting, so the tally is complete regardless of how people participate.
Note the count above: 27 for, 3 against and 1 abstention is 30 cast, not 31. The abstention is recorded but excluded from the denominator.
Proxies
An owner who can't attend appoints a proxy to vote their lot. From Meetings & votes an owner can appoint one; on paper, record it before the meeting starts.
Proxies count toward quorum as well as toward the vote, which is often what saves an AGM from being adjourned.
Your bylaws cannot cap proxies in BC
Section 56 gives an owner the right to appoint a proxy, and gives the proxy the powers of the person appointing them. The Act confers no power on a strata corporation to limit who may hold a proxy or how many one person may hold, and a bylaw attempting it is generally unenforceable. Refusing a valid proxy on the strength of such a bylaw disenfranchises an owner and is itself grounds to challenge the meeting.
What you should check is that each proxy is in writing and signed by the person appointing it, that it identifies the meeting, and whether it restricts the proxy to particular resolutions. Check those before quorum is called, not after a close vote. If a bylaw in your building appears to restrict proxies, take advice before relying on it to refuse one.
Abstentions
An abstention is a recorded decision not to vote, and in BC it is excluded from the count.
Every threshold in the Act is measured against votes cast by eligible voters present who have not abstained. So an abstention is neither a yes nor a no, and it cannot defeat a resolution: 9 for, 0 against and 20 abstentions carries unanimously among those voting.
Record abstentions anyway. They belong in the minutes, and they matter for the reconsideration right in s.51 — see running a meeting.
Finalizing the result
When voting closes, finalize the result from the recorded votes. ManageStrata applies the threshold and records the resolution as carried or defeated, with the counts.
That record then flows into the minutes — "Resolution 3 carried, 27–3 with 1 abstention" — and, where the resolution authorised money, into the corresponding levy or budget.
Finalize before you act on it
The authority to spend comes from the finalized result. Raising a levy against a resolution that was never finalized leaves you with charges nothing authorised.
A defeated resolution
Record it as defeated and minute it. It's part of the corporation's history, and re-running a defeated resolution at the next meeting is a different — and much more answerable — conversation when the first attempt is on the record.
Still stuck? Open Support in the top bar of the app, ask the Assistant, or contact us.