Strata Council 101: Roles, Responsibilities, and Best Practices.

Most BC strata councils are run by people doing it for the first time. They were nominated at the AGM, raised a hand, and walked out as a director of a small corporation responsible for tens or hundreds of millions in real estate. There's no training course required and no certification.

That's a feature of the system, not a bug: it keeps strata governance close to the owners. But it means new council members benefit from a fast briefing on the basics. Here it is.

What council actually is

The strata council is a small group of owners, typically three to seven, elected at the AGM for a one-year term. Council acts as the board of directors of the strata corporation. It does not own the building. It directs the corporation that owns the building.

Two parts of the Strata Property Act govern council most directly:

• Section 4 establishes the corporation's powers
• Section 31 sets the standard of care for council members: "to act honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of the strata corporation, and to exercise the care, diligence and skill of a reasonably prudent person in comparable circumstances."

That standard (the prudent person test) is what protects you when you make a good-faith decision that turns out badly. It's also what fails to protect you when you don't do your homework or when you have an undisclosed conflict.

Your fiduciary duty in practice

Section 31's "honestly and in good faith" duty translates into four practical rules:

1. Disclose conflicts. If your contractor cousin is bidding on the parkade refresh, declare it and recuse yourself from that vote.
2. Act for the corporation, not yourself. The duty is to the corporation as a whole, not to your unit, your friends, or your faction.
3. Inform yourself. Don't vote on a $200,000 decision based on a one-line email.
4. Document. The minutes are the record of what you did and why. They protect you when memory fails.

What council can decide on its own

Council has authority over operational matters:

• Routine spending within the approved budget
• Hiring and instructing the strata management company
• Tendering and selecting trades within budget
• Bylaw enforcement (warnings, hearings, fines)
• Insurance renewal placement (within prudent options)
• Routine maintenance prioritisation

What requires an owners' vote

Some decisions are too significant for council alone:

• Annual budget: majority vote at the AGM
• Bylaw amendments: three-quarter vote at a general meeting
• Special levies: three-quarter vote at a general meeting
• Significant alterations to common property: three-quarter vote
• Sale of common property: unanimous vote
• Wind-up of the corporation: 80% vote (changed from unanimous in 2016)

Working with your strata manager

The relationship works best when council and manager play their proper roles:

• Council decides. Manager executes.
• Council sets the agenda priorities; manager handles the operational task list flowing from those priorities.
• The manager is your advisor, not your decision-maker. If a manager is being asked to make decisions, council is being negligent. If a manager is making decisions without authority, the manager is overstepping.

Run council meetings on a regular cadence (monthly or every six weeks for active buildings; quarterly for stable ones). Use the manager's agenda template. Resolve action items in writing. Keep the meeting under two hours by working off the package, not on it.

Records: what to keep, for how long

The Strata Property Act requires the corporation to keep most records permanently. Practically, that means:

• Council and general meeting minutes: permanent
• Financial statements: permanent
• Bylaws and rules (current and historical): permanent
• Insurance policies and claims: minimum 6 years
• Correspondence on disputes: until resolved + 6 years
• Contracts: for the term plus 6 years

Your strata management company should be holding these on the corporation's behalf. When you change managers, getting these records transferred is non-negotiable.

D&O insurance and personal liability

Most BC stratas carry directors-and-officers (D&O) insurance, which covers council members for honest mistakes. It does not cover:

• Acts of fraud or dishonesty
• Gross negligence or willful misconduct
• Personal benefit at the corporation's expense

Confirm your corporation carries D&O coverage and check the limit. $2–5 million is typical for medium-sized buildings.

The five rookie mistakes

1. Making decisions outside meetings. Email threads aren't decisions; they're discussion. Decisions go in minutes.
2. Enforcing bylaws inconsistently. If you fine one owner and not another for the same conduct, you've handed the next CRT applicant their case.
3. Approving expenditures without quotes. Even small expenses should have a documented basis.
4. Letting the AGM run on relationships. Follow notice rules and quorum rules even if everyone is friendly. The day they aren't friendly, the records become important.
5. Confusing your role with your manager's. If you find yourself updating contracts or chasing trade invoices, the manager isn't doing their job, or you've blurred the lines.

For more on running effective meetings see our guide to council meetings, or read the broader community living guide.