Strata management in Kelowna
Kelowna has more strata corporations than any BC city outside Metro Vancouver, and most of them are small enough for the owners to run themselves.
Free for stratas of 4 lots or fewer, with no time limit.
In short
A strata in Kelowna doesn’t need a management company. The Strata Property Act lets the owners’ elected council run it. Of the city’s 1,657 stratas, 1,033 have four lots or fewer and 624 have five or more. The five-or-more group needs a depreciation report; every strata, whatever its size, holds an AGM, passes a budget and keeps its records.
Kelowna stratas by size
| Size | Stratas | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 lots | 1,033 | 62% |
| 5 to 10 lots | 120 | 7% |
| 11 to 30 lots | 234 | 14% |
| 31 to 100 lots | 221 | 13% |
| More than 100 lots | 49 | 3% |
| All Kelowna stratas | 1,657 |
Running a small strata in Kelowna
1,033 of Kelowna's 1,657 stratas have four lots or fewer: duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and small bare-land stratas. A management fee is hard to justify at that size, so the council is usually two or three neighbours, a shared spreadsheet, and last year's minutes in somebody's inbox.
The other 624 are a different job. A 26-lot townhouse complex in the Lower Mission or a mid-rise downtown has a depreciation report to commission, a budget large enough that owners read it closely, and enough owners that the AGM notice alone takes an evening.
The 2023 McDougall Creek wildfire showed Central Okanagan councils how quickly owners start asking what the insurance covers and where the strata's papers are. A council that keeps its policy, its bylaws and its minutes in one place answers those questions in minutes, not days.
What the Act asks of a Kelowna strata
- Every strata holds an annual general meeting, has its owners approve a budget, keeps a contingency reserve fund and keeps minutes of its meetings.
- Four lots or fewer: no depreciation report is required. The rest of the Act still applies.
- Five lots or more: A strata of five or more lots must obtain a depreciation report and renew it every five years. In Kelowna, as everywhere outside Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and the Capital Regional District, the first one is due by July 1, 2027.
The same rules apply in West Kelowna, Lake Country, Peachland and the rest of the Regional District of Central Okanagan.
What it costs
Management companies in BC typically charge $25 to $60 a lot each month. For a 26-lot strata, the typical size in Kelowna once you pass four lots, that is $650 to $1,560 a month.
ManageStrata is free for a strata of 4 lots or fewer. A 26-lot strata pays $101.40 a month. It tells your council what’s due before the date, keeps the operating fund and contingency reserve apart, and runs the AGM from notice to minutes. If you keep a manager, ManageStrata works alongside them. See pricing for every size.
Find your strata
Every Kelowna strata in the registry is listed in the directory, with its lot count and what the Act asks of a strata that size. Open yours to set it up with the lots already filled in.