Last updated on December 17, 2023
When you learn to buy a house in BC, you will probably hear about the Strata fee, so what is Strata? Is it a company or what, in this article, we will find out?
Table of Contents
Overview
First of all, I have to read this “Strata” correctly. With an English-English accent, people can read the letter T clearly, so it will be similar to “sTra Ta” but remember to add an S at the beginning of the word Tra.
As for the British-American accent, people read T into D so it will sound like “stra Da”.
So what is Strata?
Under the law
When you look at movies or pictures of residential areas in North America, you will see that the houses are very straight, beautiful, clean, and very well planned. It is because the residents of the neighborhood come together to form a rule, a common community to keep and follow the image of the neighborhood. In BC, that’s Strata.
In BC, this community is very large and they have formed a “Strata corporation” and have been promulgated by the BC provincial government with laws and general rules called “STRATA PROPERTY ACT ”.
Folk way of understanding
It will be the place to take care of tasks such as maintaining roads, trees, and landscaping in the building. In addition, they ensure and handle individuals who violate regulations, affecting the overall beauty of the neighborhood.
For example, you live in a townhouse in a straight line, clean, beautiful, and luxurious. Suddenly, a neighbor asked to build a 4-story house, or build a whole chicken farm behind the house.
That will make your neighborhood bad and affect other homes. So to ensure that home repairs or additional construction do not affect anyone else, it will manage this part.
Well, it usually manages townhouses, condos, apartments, and a few single houses. If you buy a single house, 99.99% of you will not have to buy a house in the Strata area.
What is a house labeled Strata (Strata title)
A house with a Strata title means it is located in a residential area managed by Strata and must comply with Strata laws. This means that when you own your home, you are also participating in the community that jointly owns the common properties in that residential area: for example, fences, trees, paths, and missing play areas. children, parks…etc
Restrictions that Strata-branded landlords can’t do
As I mentioned above, when you buy a house in the Strata area, you will be a member of the “strata board of directors”. No matter how small or how big a house you buy, you have the same rights and obligations as everyone else.
However, that doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want. There are a few things that you must follow such as:
- Park your car in your parking lot.
- Do not arbitrarily destroy or abandon properties in the common area.
- Must clean up after your pet “outside”.
- Must comply with the general rules and policies of the community.
Reading this far, you guys think it’s too strange, I think these things should be followed, right? Uhm… in Canada is a free country, so sometimes there are people who are too liberal so we need laws and regulations to punish them.
To ensure that everyone follows the rules, the Strata organization will hire managers and set up a management organization (Strata management) to oversee such things.
Strata manager role
In short, the manager’s role is an administrative one. Strata managers do not carry out repairs to common properties. Instead, they arrange, to hire experts to come and fix the problems that occur.
However, we must note that the managers only act under the permission of the management board of the Strata property (Sorry guys, I don’t know how to translate it properly).
Once they are licensed, Strata managers will have to perform the following tasks:
- Help community residents get new insurance policies and insurance pricing.
- Send bills for electricity and water and collect them (this is like the leader of our neighborhood group)
- Hold meetings in the Strata resident community.
- Ensure assets comply with Work Health & Safety regulations.
- Pay bills and secure funds when paying for services.
- As the person in the middle, the bridge between the residents and the Strata executive committee.
What is Strata money?
It is you, the residents in the community who will pay Strata money (understandably called the management fee).
When you buy a house, if the house is located in the management, you will be notified of the Strata fee – Strata fee, also known as “levy” plural is “levies“
This levy amount includes:
- Annual administration levies – these are used for day-to-day expenses, for example, gardening and insurance.
- Sinking fund levies – used for long-term maintenance costs, such as fixing a balcony or painting an entire building.
- Special levies – used for unexpected expenses and emergencies. They are used when long-term funds are not sufficient to cover expenses.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of staying in Strata properties?
What are the advantages?
- Has a beautiful, clean urban landscape.
- There are community facilities such as parks, swimming pools, street lights, etc., and are regularly maintained.
- There is supervision and security in the community.
- Someone cut the grass and pushed the snow to keep the roads clean and tidy.
- There are people to come out and handle when there are problems in the community.
- Homes in the area are easier to value and sell than outside.
What are the disadvantages?
- There is a monthly fee (average $350-500/month).
- Being annoyed by many general regulations.
- If you want to build anything, you must get permission and follow the rules.
Conclusion
In the opinion of many Vietnamese here, they prefer to buy a single house because they are not under the management of anyone like to do whatever they want, and do not have to spend money on monthly management. However, for every job cleaning the house, shoveling snow, or sweeping the garbage in front of the house (for example) I have to do it myself.
If you gain one, you will lose the other, right?
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