What you need to know about Strata Documents – Part 1 of an ongoing series

When looking at strata properties, one of the most important steps of the purchasing process is to review the strata documents. Your agent can request these documents from the listing agent.

Going through these documents can be a bit time consuming but it’s imperative you review them.

The document bundle should include council minutes from meetings within the past 2 years including all special general meetings and annual general meetings. Also included should be a strata plan, a Form B, the strata’s bylaws/rules, a Depreciation Report (if there is one), engineering reports (also if they have them), insurance policy, and financials to name a few.

By going through these documents, you’re going to get an idea of how well the strata is run.

Some questions to consider: Do they take care of issues as they arise? Do they set aside money to fix future projects? How much money do they currently have? Are rentals allowed? How did they address the X issue?

This post is dedicated to the Form B. The Form B is a very important document because it not only outlines what parking stall(s) and storage locker(s) are designated to the unit, it also tells you how much the maintenance fee is and how much money is in the contingency reserve fund (minus any expenditures already approved but not yet taken from the fund).

The contingency reserve fund is the savings for future projects and repairs. The contingency reserve fund is a safety net that is used to take care of issues as they arise within the strata. The Form B also lets you know if any outstanding amounts are owing by the current owner.

It will also tell you about any expected special levies and the amount the owner is expected to pay (if it has been voted on already).