Strata Bylaws in BC: What They Can Restrict, and What They Cannot

A buyer asked me last week whether the building she liked allowed rentals.

It does. Every strata in British Columbia does. That has been true since November 24, 2022, and the bylaws she was reading still said otherwise.

The rental restriction rule ended in 2022

Bill 44, the Building and Strata Statutes Amendment Act, took effect on November 24, 2022. It made strata rental restriction bylaws unenforceable across the province.

That covers every version of the restriction:

• outright bans on renting
• caps on the number of units that may be rented at one time
• waiting lists for a rental slot
• bylaws requiring an owner to live in the unit for a period before renting it
• bylaws limiting rentals to family members

None of these bind an owner any more.

The wording often stays on the page. Deleting a bylaw takes a three-quarters vote at a general meeting plus a filing at the Land Title Office, and many councils never did the paperwork. So you will open a registered bylaw set from 1998 and read a hard cap on rentals that stopped working four years ago. If a council tries to enforce one or fine you under it, the Civil Resolution Tribunal handles that dispute.

Age restrictions: only 55 and over survived

The same change limited age bylaws to a single permitted form: a minimum age of 55.

Bylaws setting 19+, 25+, 40+ or any other minimum stopped being enforceable on the same date. A building that marketed itself as adults-only at 19 has no enforceable age bylaw now.

Where a 55+ bylaw stands, the Act requires exemptions for:

• anyone lawfully living in the unit when the bylaw passed
• a spouse, married or in a marriage-like relationship, who is under 55
• a child under 19 in the qualifying resident's care
• an adult child the qualifying resident cared for before they turned 19
• a live-in caregiver for a resident who depends on them through illness, disability or frailty

Short-term rentals are a different system

Renting to a long-term tenant and renting nightly are governed by separate rules, and the second one is far more restricted than the first.

Three layers apply, and all three must permit it:

The strata bylaws. A strata may ban or limit short-term accommodation. This is expressly allowed and is common in Metro Vancouver buildings.

The municipal bylaw. Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Coquitlam and the rest each set their own rules, usually built around a business licence and a principal residence requirement.

The provincial Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act. This limits short-term rentals to a host's principal residence in many BC communities and gives local governments stronger enforcement tools.

A strata fine for breaching a short-term accommodation bylaw can run up to $1,000 for each contravention, and it can be re-imposed daily while the breach continues. That is five times the ceiling for any other bylaw.

Pet bylaws are the ones that still bite

Pet bylaws remain fully enforceable, and they are the restriction most likely to end a purchase.

A strata may ban pets outright, cap the number, or limit type, breed or weight. Two dogs under 15 kg, one cat, no dogs at all: all of these are valid bylaws.

Grandfathering is narrow. A pet already living in the unit lawfully when a new restriction passed may stay for the rest of its life. Once that animal dies or leaves, you cannot replace it with one the bylaw prohibits. The protection attaches to that animal and that resident, so it does not transfer to you when you buy the unit.

Guide and service dogs sit outside this. Certified guide dogs and service dogs are permitted regardless of what a pet bylaw or a tenancy agreement says.

Parking and storage: assigned is not the same as owned

This one costs buyers money, and the Form B answers it.

A stall or locker can be held four ways:

• Part of your strata lot, shown on the registered plan and included in what you buy
• A separate strata lot with its own title, bought and sold on its own
• Limited common property designated for your unit on the registered plan, which follows the unit
• Common property assigned by the strata council, which the council can reassign

Only the last one can be taken back. If the listing advertises two stalls and the second is a council assignment, confirm it in writing before you commit. Our piece on reading a strata depreciation report covers the other document where parking structures show up as a repair cost.

Smoking, alterations, fees and fines

Smoking. A smoking bylaw can cover common property and can reach inside the strata lots, including balconies and patios. It can cover cannabis as well as tobacco. Whether it is enforced is a separate question, and the minutes answer that better than the bylaw does.

Alterations. Most bylaws require written council approval before you change flooring, plumbing, electrical, windows, or anything structural or visible from outside. Expect an alteration agreement that makes you, and every owner after you, responsible for maintaining the change. Work done without approval can be ordered removed at your expense.

Move-in and move-out fees. A strata may charge a user fee for a move where the bylaws provide for one, and the fee has to be reasonable and tied to what the move actually costs the corporation. Ask for the amount and the elevator booking rules before you set a completion date.

Fines. The maximums a strata may write into its bylaws are $1,000 for each contravention of a short-term accommodation bylaw, $200 for each contravention of any other bylaw, and $50 for each contravention of a rule. Under the Standard Bylaws, which apply unless the strata filed its own, the amounts are lower. A strata cannot exceed these ceilings.

Before levying any fine, section 135 requires the strata to give you written notice of the complaint in enough detail to answer it, and a reasonable chance to respond, including a hearing if you request one. It must then tell you its decision in writing. Skipping those steps makes the fine reversible.

How to actually get the bylaws

The version that binds you is the one registered at the Land Title Office, not the PDF posted on the building's website and not the summary in the listing.

Three documents, in this order:

The Form B Information Certificate. Issued by the strata under section 59 for your specific unit. It states the monthly fee, what is owed, the contingency reserve balance, any special levy, any lawsuit, and which parking stalls and lockers are allocated to the unit and on what basis. The current bylaws are attached to it.

The registered bylaws. These are the filed amendments recorded against the strata plan. Request the complete set, including every amendment, because buildings amend in layers and a 2019 amendment can change a 1997 bylaw without replacing the page.

Two years of minutes. Council minutes and general meeting minutes show which bylaws the council enforces, which complaints keep recurring, and what is being discussed before it becomes a special levy. This is where a bylaw stops being theory.

Read all three during your subject period. If you are weighing what else belongs in that review, strata fees explained and the strata insurance deductible cover the two costs that surprise buyers most often.

What this comes down to

• Rental restriction bylaws ended November 24, 2022 and are unenforceable, whatever the document still says.
• Only a 55+ age bylaw survives, with required exemptions for spouses, children and caregivers.
• Short-term rentals are separate, governed by strata bylaws, your city, and the provincial Act together.
• Pet bylaws are enforceable. Grandfathering covers one animal, for its life, and does not transfer to you.
• Check how parking is held, because a council assignment can be taken back.
• A fine needs written notice and a chance to respond under section 135.
• Read the Form B, the registered bylaws, and two years of minutes during your subject period.
• Contact our team to review a strata package on a specific unit, or browse listings.

Plan your next step

Work through strata review for the full document checklist and what each one tells you. If you are still narrowing buildings, comparing homes sets out how bylaws and monthly costs change what a unit is worth to you.