Special Levies in Vancouver Condos: How They Work, Who Pays, and What to Check

A special levy is a one-time charge a strata corporation raises from owners to pay for something the regular budget and the contingency reserve fund cannot cover: a roof, a repiping project, an envelope repair, an elevator modernization, sometimes an insurance deductible. In a city where most people own strata property, levies are a normal part of ownership. They are also the single most common surprise in a condo purchase.

This guide explains how they work in British Columbia and what I check when a levy, approved or rumoured, shows up in a building a client is looking at.

How a levy gets approved

Under the Strata Property Act, a special levy needs a resolution passed by at least a 3/4 vote of owners at an annual or special general meeting, as long as the cost is shared the same way strata fees are shared (normally by unit entitlement). If the strata wants to divide the cost some other way, for example only among the owners who benefit, the resolution needs a unanimous vote.

The resolution must state the purpose of the levy, the total amount, how it is divided, each strata lot's share, and the date or dates by which it must be paid. A levy can also be used as security for a strata loan, again with a 3/4 vote.

There is one important exception. If a resolution for repairs or maintenance of common property gets a majority but falls short of 3/4, and the work is needed to ensure safety or prevent significant loss or damage, the strata can apply to the BC Supreme Court to have the levy approved anyway. In practice this is how stubborn buildings eventually fix leaking envelopes.

How your share is calculated

Most levies are allocated by unit entitlement, the figure on the strata plan that usually tracks the unit's habitable area. Your share of a levy is:

levy amount × your unit entitlement ÷ total unit entitlement of all lots

Example: a strata approves a $600,000 levy for envelope work. Total unit entitlement is 10,000 and your unit is 82. Your share is $600,000 × 82 ÷ 10,000 = $4,920. Larger units pay more; a penthouse with twice the entitlement pays twice the amount.

Levies are often payable in instalments over months or years. Late payments can carry interest set by bylaw or by the resolution, and an unpaid levy can become a lien on the unit.

If the project comes in under budget, surplus funds are returned to owners in proportion to what they paid, provided at least one owner is owed more than $100; otherwise the strata can move the surplus to the contingency reserve fund. The refund goes to whoever owns the unit at the time of the refund, which is worth remembering in a sale.

Who pays when a unit sells

The Act's default rule is based on payment dates: the seller is responsible for the portion of an approved levy that is payable before the conveyance (completion) date, and the buyer is responsible for the portion payable on or after it. The parties can agree otherwise in the contract, and in Vancouver most contracts include a clause that does exactly that, typically making the seller responsible for levies approved before completion regardless of when instalments fall due.

Read that clause. Three questions matter:

1. Has the levy been approved by resolution, or only discussed, budgeted or recommended in the depreciation report?
2. When are the instalments due relative to the completion date?
3. What does the contract say about levies approved between acceptance and completion?

Get the answer to all three in writing before subject removal. Your lawyer or notary confirms the amounts on the statement of adjustments; your REALTOR® should have flagged the issue weeks earlier.

Where levies show up in the documents

• Form B Information Certificate. Lists levies that have been approved and any amounts owing for the unit, plus the contingency reserve fund balance. It must be delivered within seven days of a request; the strata may charge up to $35 plus copying.
• General meeting minutes. Show the resolution, the vote and the discussion before it.
• Council minutes. Show the months of quotes, engineering reports and arguments that led to the resolution, and the projects that were deferred instead.
• Depreciation report. Shows what the building is expected to need over the next 30 years and how the strata proposes to fund it. Since 2024, stratas with five or more lots must obtain one every five years, and the Metro Vancouver deadline for older stratas was July 1, 2026.
• Budget and financial statements. Show whether the strata actually contributes enough to the reserve to avoid the next levy.

A healthy levy versus a warning sign

A levy is not automatically bad news. A strata that commissions an engineer, gets competitive quotes, passes a levy for a defined scope and completes the work is doing exactly what a well-run building should do. The buyer is paying for a building that has dealt with its problems.

The signs that concern me are different:

• Repeated levies for the same component, which suggests the problem is not being solved.
• A levy that funds operating shortfalls or insurance deductibles rather than capital work.
• A large levy with no engineering report or project plan behind it.
• A depreciation report that recommends a funding plan the strata has ignored for years.
• A thin contingency reserve in a building old enough to need major work.
• Owners in arrears, which can mean the strata borrows or re-levies.

A building with no levy history is not automatically safe either. It may simply have deferred everything.

If you are selling a unit with a levy

Disclose it clearly and early, with the resolution, the payment schedule and what the work achieves. Price with the levy in mind: buyers will subtract an unpaid levy from what they are willing to pay, and often more than the levy itself if the explanation is unclear. If you have already paid your share, say so in the listing; a completed project is a selling point.

If you are buying a unit with a levy

Ask for the resolution, the Form B, the last two years of minutes and the depreciation report. Work out your unit's share, when it is due, and what the contract says about who pays. Then decide whether the building, net of the levy, is still the right purchase at the right price. Often it is. Occasionally the levy is the first chapter of a longer story, and the documents will tell you which.