132 condos are listed as BC court-ordered sales. Who pays the former owner's strata fees, which special levy instalments become yours, and what the Form B shows before you bid.
Written by Hamidreza Etebarian on
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There are 132 condos listed as court-ordered sales in the BC regions Zealty covers today, October 7, 2026, and 63 of them ask under $500,000. The cheapest is a two-bedroom in Chilliwack at $189,000. For comparison, the median asking price across all 8,159 active condos in Metro Vancouver is $639,900. A foreclosed condo carries one cost that a foreclosed house does not: the strata corporation. An owner who has stopped paying the mortgage has often stopped paying strata fees too, and the building may have a special levy coming. This guide covers who pays those debts under BC's Strata Property Act, what the Form B tells you before you bid, and how a strata can force a sale on its own. For how BC foreclosure works in general, start with our guide to finding and buying foreclosure properties in BC.
Condos and townhouses make up 192 of the 447 court-ordered listings on Zealty right now, about 43%. Every one of them sits inside a strata corporation. You are buying a strata lot, and the strata corporation holds its own claim against that lot for anything the owner failed to pay it.
Most court-ordered condo sales in BC are lender foreclosures, where a mortgage lender has gone to the BC Supreme Court and won the conduct of sale. Some are started by the strata corporation itself, which can ask the court to sell a unit to collect unpaid fees. Both kinds appear under the same Court-Ordered Sale filter, and both need a judge to approve the final price.
When an owner stops paying, the strata corporation can register a lien against the unit. Section 116(1) of BC's Strata Property Act allows a Certificate of Lien (Form G) for unpaid strata fees, unpaid special levies, the cost of certain work the strata did on the owner's behalf, and the unit's share of a judgment against the strata. Under section 112(2), the strata must first give the owner at least two weeks' written notice demanding payment. Fines cannot be the basis of a lien (section 116(3)(c)).
The lien's priority is what matters most to a foreclosure buyer. Section 116(5) says a strata lien ranks ahead of every other lien or registered charge on the unit, including the mortgage. The only exceptions are the part of the lien that covers the unit's share of a judgment against the strata, a Crown lien that is not a mortgage, and a lien under the Builders Lien Act. Section 118 lets the strata add reasonable legal costs and land title and court registry fees to the amount owing.
In practice, the lender selling a foreclosed condo knows the strata gets paid before it does. Registered strata arrears come out of the sale proceeds ahead of the mortgage. The Act also gives lenders an early warning: a lender that has given the strata a Mortgagee's Request for Notification under section 60 must receive a copy of any demand notice the strata sends the owner (section 113).
Liens are not the only protection the strata has. Under section 256 of the Strata Property Act, the Land Title Office will not register the transfer of a strata lot unless a current Certificate of Payment (Form F) comes with it. Under section 115, the strata issues that certificate within one week of a request if the owner owes nothing, or if the money owing has been paid into court or into trust, or if the strata has accepted arrangements to pay it. The certificate stays current for 60 days, and the Strata Property Regulation caps its fee at $15 (section 6.10, current to October 6, 2026).
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The Form F can also include fines and the cost of fixing bylaw breaches (section 115(4)(b)), even though those amounts cannot be liened. So whatever the former owner owed the strata, registered or not, has to be settled or arranged before your purchase can register. In a court-ordered sale, that money normally comes off the top of the proceeds at closing. Have your lawyer confirm the Form F is in hand and check the statement of adjustments line by line rather than assuming it.
Special levies follow a different rule. Section 109 of the Strata Property Act splits a levy that was approved before the unit is conveyed. The owner immediately before the conveyance owes every portion payable before the conveyance date. The owner immediately after it, which is you, owes every portion payable on or after that date.
Say the owners approved a roof levy in March, payable in two instalments, one in June and one in December. You complete your purchase in October. The June instalment belonged to the former owner, and if it went unpaid, it is now strata arrears, lienable under section 116 and paid from the sale proceeds. The December instalment is yours, whatever price the court approved.
A levy that has been proposed but not yet voted on is a bigger risk. Under section 108, most special levies pass by a 3/4 vote at an annual or special general meeting. If that vote happens after you take title, the whole levy is yours. An owner in foreclosure has little reason to attend meetings or warn anyone, so read the minutes and any notice of an upcoming meeting yourself.
In an ordinary BC sale, you would negotiate a price reduction or a holdback for a known levy. In a court-ordered sale, the lender has conduct of sale and the judge approves the terms. Anything you want, including a credit for a levy, has to be written into your offer before it goes to the hearing, and the lender does not have to agree. Usually the realistic answer is to lower your price. Our guide to special levies in BC covers typical sizes and the warning signs that one is coming.
The Information Certificate, known as Form B, is the one document that puts the unit's debts and the building's coming costs on a single page. Under section 59 of the Strata Property Act, the strata must provide it within one week of a request from an owner, a purchaser, or someone either of them authorizes. The Strata Property Regulation caps the fee at $35 plus up to 25 cents per page for copies (section 4.4, current to October 6, 2026).
On a foreclosed condo, these items on the Form B matter most:
Section 59(4) requires the strata to attach its rules, its current budget, and its most recent depreciation report, if it has one. Section 59(5) makes the information on the certificate binding on the strata in its dealings with anyone who relied on it reasonably. A court-ordered sale comes as is, with no disclosure from the seller, so this is one of the few written assurances you will get.
The Act defines a purchaser as someone who has entered into an agreement to buy, so before your offer is accepted, ask the listing agent whether the vendor already has a Form B. After acceptance, you can request your own. The certificate is also only a snapshot as of its date (section 59(2)), and court approval can take weeks, so get a fresh one shortly before the hearing.
Some court-ordered condo listings are not lender foreclosures at all. Under section 117 of the Strata Property Act, once a strata corporation has registered a Certificate of Lien, it can apply to the BC Supreme Court for an order to sell the unit. The court order must give the owner a period to pay. If the owner does not pay in that time, the strata can sell the unit at a price and on terms the court approves (section 117(4)).
For a buyer, the process looks much like a lender sale: an as-is listing, an accepted offer, and a court hearing where competing bids can appear. The difference is who is driving it. The strata's claim is the reason for the sale, so expect the arrears to be large and the building's records to show a long collection history. Read the minutes for how the strata handled it. For how the hearing itself works, see our BC foreclosure process guide and our court-ordered sale bidding guide.
On a foreclosed condo in BC, the Strata Property Act puts most of the former owner's strata debt ahead of the mortgage and makes it payable before title can transfer, so in most cases it comes out of the sale proceeds rather than your pocket. What lands on you is anything payable after you take title: the remaining special levy instalments, any levy voted in after you own the unit, and the condition of the building. The Form B is the document that shows both.
This guide is general information about BC law, not legal advice. Have a BC real estate lawyer review the Form B and the terms of the court order before your offer goes in front of a judge.
To see what is listed now, use the Court-Ordered Sale filter on Zealty and check each building's sold history. Our breakdown of what BC foreclosures actually sold for shows how far closing prices have landed from asking.
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A BC foreclosure runs through the Supreme Court, not a bank auction. Here is the full timeline, the 6-month redemption period, and why your offer is not final until a judge approves it.
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