Strata reserve funds and special levies: what a BC condo buyer should check

Updated November 13, 2026 · 412 words

Two condos can list at the same price with very different futures. One has a healthy contingency reserve fund and a plan for its roof. The other has kept strata fees low for years and will pay for its next big repair with a special levy. The listing photos won't tell you which is which. The strata documents will.

This guide models a hypothetical 60-unit building over 30 years under two reserve plans, shows how a levy is split between owners, and lists what to read before you remove subjects.

Apartment Building — Every building has a schedule of big repairs. The question is who pays for them, and when.

The contingency reserve fund

A strata corporation saves for major repairs in its contingency reserve fund (CRF). BC rules set a minimum contribution, which rose to 10% of the operating budget in 2024, and most stratas with five or more lots must commission a depreciation report every five years. The report estimates when each component wears out and what it will cost.

Line chart of a contingency reserve fund over 30 years for a 60-unit building: contributing $130,000 a year keeps the fund positive through a $900,000 roof in year 6, $600,000 elevators in year 12, $1.5 million windows in year 18 and a $700,000 boiler in year 25, while contributing $60,000 a year empties it at each project — The low plan runs dry at all four projects. Each shortfall becomes a special levy.

Plan	Yearly contribution	Special levies over 30 years	Fund left in year 30
Minimum	$60,000	about $1.67 million	about $310,000
Report's plan	$130,000	none	about $1.02 million

How a levy is split

A special levy is shared by unit entitlement, which in most residential buildings follows floor area.

Bar chart of a $71,000 roof levy split by unit entitlement: about $692 for a 450 sq ft studio, $953 for a 620 sq ft one-bedroom, $1,353 for an 880 sq ft two-bedroom and $1,769 for a 1,150 sq ft three-bedroom — The roof levy is manageable. The year 18 envelope levy, sixteen times larger, is not.

The year 18 window and envelope project is the dangerous one: about $1.12 million of shortfall, or roughly $18,700 for an average unit, due in a single year.

What owners actually pay

Bars of the average owner's yearly reserve payments: about $1,000 a year under the minimum plan, with levy years reaching $2,184, $4,692, $19,692 and $5,232, compared with a steady $2,167 a year under the planned contributions — Over 30 years the totals are close. The difference is a predictable fee against a $19,700 bill in one year.

Low fees aren't free money. Over 30 years the average owner pays about $57,800 under the low plan and $65,000 under the planned one. But the planned building still has about $17,000 per unit in the bank at the end, and no owner has to find $19,700 in one year.

Glass Roof — Roofs, windows, and building envelopes are the largest items in most depreciation reports.

What to read before you remove subjects

Form B information certificate: the CRF balance, any approved or proposed special levies, and the monthly fee.
Depreciation report: compare the recommended contributions with what the strata actually collects.
Two years of minutes: look for words like "envelope", "leak", "levy", "engineer", and "insurance deductible".
Insurance certificate: the deductible for water damage, which owners may be charged.

To compare fees and recent sold prices for townhouses and condos across Metro Vancouver, see EstateBlock's Vancouver townhouse prices analysis.

Sources and further reading

Government of British Columbia: Strata housing: depreciation reports and contingency reserve funds
Condominium Home Owners Association of BC: Strata resources

Hypothetical building and figures. General information only, not legal advice.

Photos (CC0): Apartment Building by Matt Bango; Glass Roof by Bob Richards.