Potential homebuyers will have more information available to them as a result of changes made to the Strata Property Regulation in December 2011.
Depreciation reports are now required for stratas with five units or more, and strata corporations have until December 2013 to comply. A strata corporation can also waive the requirement by a 3/4 vote. A strata corporation's depreciation report estimates the life expectancy of major items and the ultimate cost of their repair or replacement.
The strata corporation must also keep any reports respecting the repair or maintenance of major items in the strata corporation, including engineers' reports, risk management reports, sanitation reports and reports respecting any items for which information is mandatory in a depreciation report.
Effective March 1, 2012, whenever a strata corporation issues an Information Certificate (Form B), the corporation must attach to it, among other things, the corporation's most recent depreciation report.
In addition, effective January 1, 2014 the Information Certificate (Form B) will change. At that point, the Form B will require a strata corporation to disclose if there is any parking stall or storage locker allocated to the strata lot and if so, whether the parking stall or storage locker is a separate strata lot, part of a strata lot, or part of the common property.
BCREA is pleased with these measures, and looks forward to regulations regarding audited financial statements and dispute resolution later this year.
More information
Ministry of Energy and Mines, Office of Housing and Construction Standards website: www.housing.gov.bc.ca/strata/regs
BCREA’s position: www.bcrea.bc.ca/government-relations/strata-property-act
"Copyright British Columbia Real Estate Association. Reprinted with permission."
