A strata management company runs your building's money and paperwork, but the council still makes the decisions. Here is how BC licenses them, what they charge and how to judge one.
Written by Hamidreza Etebarian on
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Strata management is the paid administration of a strata corporation's money, records, contractors and bylaw paperwork, carried out by a company licensed by the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA). It touches a lot of BC homes. Metro Vancouver has 8,113 condos and 4,039 townhouses listed for sale on Zealty today (October 12, 2026), at median asking prices of $639,900 and $999,999, and most of them sit inside a strata corporation that either runs itself or pays a strata management company out of the strata fees. This guide covers what a strata management company in BC does, how it is licensed, what it charges, how to judge one, and how a strata corporation replaces it.
BC's Strata Property Act puts a long list of duties on every strata corporation: repair the common property, pass a budget, collect strata fees, insure the building, keep records and enforce the bylaws. An elected council of volunteer owners carries those duties. Strata management is what happens when the council hands part of that work to a professional. If you are new to how a strata is set up, start with our guide to what a strata is in BC.
BC's Real Estate Services Act defines strata management services as collecting or holding strata fees and levies, or exercising the delegated powers of the strata corporation or its council. That includes paying third parties, negotiating or signing contracts, supervising employees or contractors, and enforcing bylaws or rules. Anyone who does that work for a fee must be licensed unless a regulation exempts them (BCFSA, Working with a Strata Management Company).
Legally, the relationship is agency. The strata corporation is the client and the management company is its agent, which owes it loyalty, reasonable care and skill, confidentiality, and a full accounting of its money. The council stays answerable to the owners for getting the work done, even after it delegates that work.
The contract sets the scope. Some councils hand over nearly everything, and others buy only the bookkeeping. A full-service contract typically covers the following.
What the company does not do is decide. A strata manager acts on instructions from the council, not from individual owners. Owners are not parties to the management contract, so an owner with a leak, a noise complaint or a parking dispute should put it in writing to the council, either directly or through the manager.
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BCFSA licenses, educates and disciplines strata managers under the Real Estate Services Act. Licensing works at two levels.
The licence comes with rules that protect owners. The Real Estate Services Rules require separate trust accounts for each strata corporation, a written service agreement signed before services begin (unless the corporation waives it), and written disclosure of any conflict of interest.
Some people can manage a strata without a licence. Owners serving on their own strata council, caretakers employed by the strata corporation, and owner developers that meet certain conditions are exempt. Section 2.17 of BC's Real Estate Services Regulation also lets an unlicensed owner provide strata management services for a fee to a maximum of 2 strata corporations in which they own a strata lot. A self-managed strata, run entirely by its council, does not need a licensed manager at all.
To check a company or an individual manager, use BCFSA's Find a Professional search, which shows whether the brokerage or person is licensed to provide strata management services. BCFSA also publishes its disciplinary decisions, so search the company's name there as well.
No BC law sets the management fee. BCFSA's guidance says different strata management companies charge different amounts for different services, and that fees are often negotiable, although some companies work from a fixed price list. What the law does require is that the written service agreement state the remuneration and when it is payable (Real Estate Services Rules, section 43).
The management fee is a line in the strata corporation's operating budget, paid out of the monthly strata fees every owner contributes. If you are buying, you will find it in the current budget attached to the Form B. Unless the contract builds in set increases, the council must approve any change to the management fee in writing before it takes effect.
Read the schedules at the back of the contract. BCFSA tells councils to pay particular attention to them, because that is where additional charges sit. Ask what each extra charge covers, such as an extra meeting or an insurance claim, and how it is billed.
A few charges are capped by regulation, and buyers meet them most often:
Management companies often collect these document fees for the strata corporation and keep them. That is allowed, but the company must tell the strata corporation what it receives. The same disclosure rules cover referral fees from contractors, insurance brokers or depreciation report planners, and any benefit from hiring a related contractor (Real Estate Services Rules, sections 51, 52, 56 and 58).
Councils choosing a manager and buyers sizing one up from the minutes can use the same questions. BCFSA suggests councils collect proposals from several companies and ask about the first seven points below. The eighth comes from BCFSA's list of common conflicts of interest.
Then read the contract against section 43 of the Real Estate Services Rules. It must state the services, the fee, which funds the company will hold, its authority to sign cheques and contracts, how often it reports, and which records it keeps. If the contract lets the manager move money from the contingency reserve fund to cover an operating shortfall without asking council, change that before signing.
Under section 39 of BC's Strata Property Act, a strata corporation can cancel a strata management contract on 2 months' notice, without penalty and whatever the contract says, once a 3/4 vote at an annual or special general meeting approves it. The management company can also end the contract on 2 months' notice. No vote is needed to let a contract expire on its own terms or to decline a renewal.
New buildings have an extra rule. A management contract signed for the strata corporation before its first annual general meeting ends 4 weeks after the second annual general meeting, unless owners vote by majority at that meeting to keep it (Strata Property Act, section 24). That gives owners of a new building a set point to choose their own manager.
When a contract ends, the outgoing company must hand the corporation's records back within 4 weeks (Strata Property Act, section 37). A company that misses that deadline owes the strata corporation $1,000 (BC Strata Property Regulation, section 4.3, current to October 6, 2026). If the council has a serious concern about a licensed manager's conduct and cannot resolve it with the manager or the managing broker, it can file a complaint with BCFSA. In most cases BCFSA wants the complaint to come from the council, with the minutes of the council meeting that approved it.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Before cancelling a contract or acting on a dispute with a manager, talk to a lawyer who practises strata law in BC.
You never sign the management contract, but your strata fee pays for it, and its quality shows in the documents you read before removing subjects.
Our checklist for assessing a strata building before you buy covers the full document review, and our guides to strata fees in BC and the depreciation report explain the two numbers a strata manager has the most influence over.
A good strata management company keeps the money straight, the records complete and the council informed, and a weak one shows up first in the minutes. Before you make an offer, look up the building in the Zealty Strata Browser, which covers more than 14,000 BC strata buildings with data powered by StrataReports, or browse current Metro Vancouver listings with live MLS data updated throughout the day.
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