Quick answer

A low strata fee in an older building is rarely a sign of good management. It is more often a sign that repairs and replacements are being delayed instead of funded. The cost does not disappear. It shows up later as a special levy, and it lands on whoever owns the unit at the time.

Everyone tells you low strata fees are a good sign. Buyers see a number lower than the building next door and read it as savings.

In an older building, that number usually means something else.

A low fee does not mean the building costs less to run. It means someone decided not to pay for something yet. Roofs, piping, elevators, parkades, and building envelope work still need funding whether the strata is saving for them or not. If the fee looks low compared to what those items actually cost, the difference has not disappeared. It has been deferred to the next owner.

I break down the full review process, including the documents themselves, in this video. If you'd rather watch than read, hit play below

What I found inside one Metro Vancouver building

I recently reviewed a building for a client where the fees had stayed flat for years. On paper it looked efficient. Inside the documents, a different story was buried in the numbers.

The council had paid themselves out of the contingency reserve fund without an owner vote. Once that surfaced, two of three council members resigned. One person was left running the building. Basic maintenance stopped. Broken mailboxes went unrepaired for months, and the management firm handling the books was reconsidering the contract.

About half the owners do not live in the building full time. The rest cycle through as investment tenants. Nobody in that mix had a reason to push for higher fees. The people who might have cared were not there to raise it.

This is not a rare pattern. It is the pattern that shows up whenever fees sit lower than they should for a building's age.

Reading the depreciation report and the Form K count

Two documents tell you more than the fee ever will.

The first is the depreciation report. This is where a strata is required to project upcoming repairs, their cost, and how the building plans to fund them. The number to watch for is not the total. It is the pattern of major items pushed to "next report" across multiple cycles. A roof that has been three years away for the last three reports is not three years away. It is being avoided.

The second is the Form K count. A Form K is filed when an owner rents out their unit. A building with a high number of them is a building with a heavy concentration of investor owners, and investor owners are often motivated to keep fees frozen to protect their cash flow, regardless of what the building actually needs. A high Form K count does not mean a building is poorly run. It means you should look harder at who is voting on the budget and why.

BC's reserve fund rules, and why the legal minimum isn't enough

Since late 2023, BC law has required stratas to contribute at least 10 percent of their operating budget to the contingency reserve fund each year, and to maintain a minimum reserve equal to 25 percent of that budget.

That sounds like protection. It is a floor, not a target.

The 25 percent figure is calculated against the operating budget, which covers day to day costs like insurance, cleaning, and utilities. It has nothing to do with what a roof, an elevator, or a parkade membrane actually costs to replace. A building can meet the legal minimum and still be nowhere close to funded for the work its depreciation report says is coming.

The deferral loophole that closed in 2024

Until July 1, 2024, a strata could vote at its AGM to defer its depreciation report for up to 18 months at a time. Some buildings used that provision repeatedly and pushed a real report off for close to a decade.

That loophole is closed now. A catch up deadline landed in July 2026 across Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, and the Capital Regional District, and buildings that deferred for years are now producing real numbers for the first time. Industry estimates put the true annual cost of condo repairs and levies at over $2,000 per unit for an average BC condo, and closer to $3,000 for older buildings. For a lot of owners, this is the first time that number has been in writing.

Insurance: the piece most buyers never check

Over 60 percent of BC stratas now carry water deductibles above $50,000. In older buildings, or buildings with a claims history, that number climbs to $250,000 or $500,000.

A single water event in a building like that is not a minor claim. It is a bill the strata absorbs directly, and that bill gets covered one of two ways: a fee increase or a special levy. Buildings with deferred maintenance and thin records often struggle to secure reasonable insurance at all, which pushes the cost onto owners either way.

This is not a line item most buyers think to ask about. It should be.

Why this shows up on resale, not on purchase

None of this is visible from the unit. New paint and a renovated kitchen tell you what the home looks like today. They tell you nothing about what ownership costs next.

The building I described above is not only a buyer's problem. If you already own there, the same governance gap and the same underfunded reserve are sitting on your equity right now. A special assessment affects roughly 1 in 6 Canadian condo buildings over any given five year stretch. When it lands, buyers do not just see a bill. They see a governance problem, and that narrows your buyer pool fast.

The checklist I run before recommending a purchase

Before I recommend a client move forward on a strata purchase, I check:

• The contingency reserve fund balance against the 25 percent legal minimum, and against what the depreciation report says the building actually needs

• Whether the building is self-managed, and how active the current council is

• The Form K count, as a signal for investor concentration

• Whether the depreciation report was authored by a licensed professional and dated after July 2025

• All three required funding models in the report, not just the executive summary

• The most recent insurance renewal and the current deductible

A renovated unit tells you how the home looks today. The documents tell you what ownership might actually cost next.

Final thought

A low fee is not a discount. It is a delay. The question is not whether the cost is coming. It is who happens to own the unit when it arrives.

If you are looking at a building right now and want a second set of eyes on the strata documents before you write an offer, I review the full package, free, before you commit to anything.

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Frequently asked questions

Are low strata fees always a bad sign? Not always. In a newer building with a well-funded reserve, a lower fee can genuinely reflect efficient management. In an older building, a fee that has stayed flat for years while major building components age is far more often a sign of deferred maintenance than savings.

What is a depreciation report? A depreciation report is a document that projects a building's major repairs and replacements over a set time horizon, along with their estimated cost and how the strata plans to fund them. It is the clearest picture available of what a building actually needs financially, separate from what the current fee suggests.

What does a high Form K count mean? A Form K is filed whenever an owner rents out their unit. A high count signals a building with a large share of investor owners, who are often motivated to keep fees low to protect their rental cash flow. It is worth checking, not because investor ownership is automatically bad, but because it changes who is voting on the budget and why.

What is the legal minimum for a strata's contingency reserve fund in BC? Since late 2023, BC law requires stratas to contribute at least 10 percent of the operating budget annually to the contingency reserve fund and maintain a minimum reserve of 25 percent of that budget. This is a legal floor, not a guarantee that the building is funded for its actual major repairs.

Why did depreciation reports change in 2024 and 2026? Until July 1, 2024, stratas could vote to defer their depreciation report every 18 months, and some deferred for close to a decade. That loophole closed in 2024. A catch up deadline landed in July 2026 for Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, and the Capital Regional District, forcing many buildings to produce a real report for the first time in years.

Sources: BC Strata Property Act, Greater Vancouver REALTORS®