A Vancouver condo is only as good as the strata behind it. Use this checklist — financials, depreciation report, AGM minutes, insurance — to avoid buildings that cost far more than the list price.
Written by Hamidreza Etebarian on and updated on
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You're not just buying a unit. You're buying into a building, its finances, its maintenance history, its insurance situation, and every decision its strata council has made for the past decade. Here's exactly how to evaluate all of it.
If you are new to strata ownership and want to understand the basics first, start with the guide to strata ownership in BC before diving into the document review below. It covers what strata fees include, how the Contingency Reserve Fund works, and the three types of strata you will encounter across British Columbia.
If you're searching for an apartment to buy in Vancouver, you're actually looking at a condo. In BC, apartments are typically rental buildings, while condos are strata properties that you own. Whether you've been searching for apartments or condos, this guide covers exactly what you need to know before buying.
Vancouver's condo market has 2,030 active listings right now, with a median asking price of $839,400 and a median of 42 days on market. That's a lot of choice. And that's exactly when buyers get complacent and skip the research.
Don't. In 2026, there are three reasons strata due diligence matters more than ever:
Before you book a showing, look up the building on . Search by address or building name. You'll see construction type and materials, number of units and storeys, year built, management company, pet and rental policies, amenities, and rain screen status. All in one place, covering over 14,000 strata buildings across BC. This takes five minutes and tells you immediately whether the building is worth further investigation.
Every building page on Zealty includes a Building Health widget powered by StrataReports. It compares the building against similar properties of the same age, size, and location and answers three questions:
Zealty will email you the day when homes matching your filters hit the market, change price, host open houses, or get sold/expired.
Save My SearchYou would need to create a free account on Zealty to save a search.
If everything looks green, you're good to proceed. If you see red flags, dig deeper or walk away.
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On the same Zealty building page, scroll down and check the active listings and recently sold units.
If units are sitting on the market longer than comparable buildings nearby, something in the strata documents is probably scaring buyers off. If units are consistently selling below assessed value, there's usually a reason. Try comparing price per square foot against neighbouring buildings. A persistent discount almost always signals a problem underneath.
On the other hand, strong resale activity at fair prices is one of the best indicators of a healthy building.
The building page gives you a fast screen. But before you remove subjects, you need the full picture.
Your REALTOR® can request the strata document package on your behalf. This typically includes the Form B (which covers unit-specific financials like monthly fees, outstanding balances, and levies owed), financial statements and operating budget, two or more years of council and AGM meeting minutes, the depreciation report (a 30-year maintenance forecast), insurance policies, engineering reports, and the building's bylaws.
This package can run hundreds of pages. Once your REALTOR® obtains it, they can upload the documents to StrataReports and get a professional-grade analysis back in about ten minutes.
The report organizes everything into clear categories. You get a financial analysis comparing the reserve fund, budget, and insurance against similar buildings. You get a meeting minutes summary that pulls out the important stuff from years of dense notes, things like recurring issues, legal actions, and deferred repairs. There's a bylaws review covering rental restrictions, pet policies, smoking rules, and renovation permissions. And there's a timeline narrative that shows how building issues have evolved over time, so you can see whether a leak from 2023 actually got resolved or is still an ongoing headache.
Building health scores on target or better across the board. A contingency reserve fund that's adequately funded according to the depreciation report. Stable strata fees over the past five years. A current depreciation report that's less than three years old. Meeting minutes that show proactive maintenance conversations rather than crisis management. Reasonable insurance deductibles relative to similar buildings. And strong resale activity with units selling at fair market value.
Free screening (do this first):
Deep due diligence (before removing subjects):
Search active condo listings in Vancouver on Zealty — you can filter by building age to flag older inventory worth extra scrutiny.
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