A Form B is the certificate every BC strata corporation must produce within one week of a request, and its fee has been frozen at $35 since 2000. Buyers rely on it to learn what a strata lot carries. Councils, however, get squeezed by it, because the regulated fee usually flows to the management firm while the liability stays with the strata. Here is what the certificate must disclose, what it must attach, and what the law caps.
Key takeaways
- The clock: section 59(1) of the Strata Property Act gives the strata one week to deliver a Form B.
- The cap: $35 plus reproduction at up to 25 cents per page, and it includes the three required attachments: rules, current budget, and the most recent depreciation report, if any (Reg 4.4, s.59(4)).
- The uncapped part: rush fees. CHOA puts the market at $200-500 with no legal limit, and nothing obliges a strata to comply with a rush request.
- The stakes: under s.59(5), what the certificate discloses binds the strata to anyone who reasonably relied on it.
Thirty-five dollars buys a document that legally binds the strata corporation. The rush fee buys speed the law never required.
The certificate and the one-week clock
What is a Form B in BC real estate?
A Form B, formally an Information Certificate, is the disclosure document a BC strata corporation must deliver within one week of a request under section 59(1) of the Strata Property Act. It certifies the financial and legal state of one strata lot.
An owner, a purchaser, or a person authorized by either can demand one, and, notably, the province’s guidance confirms the purchase agreement does not need to be unconditional or subject-free.
The statute says “within one week” and stops there. VISOA therefore flags the wording as ambiguous (business or calendar days) and recommends delivering within seven calendar days. The strata manager signs if authorized; either way, the council remains responsible for the contents.
What section 59(3) makes the strata disclose
Section 59(3) makes every item below mandatory, accurate as of the certificate’s date:
- Money: monthly strata fees, anything the owner owes, approved special levies and their deadlines, expected budget overruns, and the contingency reserve fund balance net of approved spending.
- Agreements: alteration or expense agreements tied to the lot.
- Governance: unfiled bylaw amendments, passed-but-unfiled three-quarter or unanimous resolutions, noticed-but-unvoted resolutions, and any winding-up resolution.
- Legal exposure: court, arbitration, or tribunal proceedings, judgments against the strata, and outstanding work orders.
- Newer items: parking and storage allocations (s.59(3)(l.1)), and an insurance-coverage summary (s.59(3)(l.2)), required since April 1, 2023.
The prescribed form now also asks for electrical planning reports under section 94.1, copies attached. Bill 44, conversely, removed the rented-lot count as of November 24, 2022.
The attachments and the $35 cap
How much can a strata charge for a Form B in BC?
The lawful maximum, set by section 4.4 of the Strata Property Regulation, is $35 plus the actual cost of reproduction up to 25 cents per page, and that cap includes the required attachments.
Section 59(4) fixes the attachments at three:
- the rules of the strata corporation,
- the current budget, and
- the most recent depreciation report, if any, obtained under section 94.
The “if any”, however, is doing less work than it used to. Stratas with five or more lots in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, and the Capital Regional District that had no depreciation report, or only one dated before December 31, 2020, had until July 1, 2026 to obtain one. For those buildings, therefore, a blank depreciation-report line is now a red flag, not a routine gap.
The 25 cents is a ceiling on actual copying costs, not a per-page entitlement, so an emailed certificate should carry little or no page charge. For example, run the numbers on a typical package: a 40-page depreciation report, a 12-page budget, and 8 pages of rules make 60 pages, which at the ceiling adds $15 for a lawful maximum of $50. An invoice above the ceiling on a standard seven-day request is a charge the regulation does not allow.
The BC Law Institute recommended raising the base fee to $300 in 2019. The Legislature never actioned it. Form F, the companion Certificate of Payment under section 115, is likewise capped on its own at $15 by Regulation 6.10.
Rush fees and who keeps the money
A rush fee is the charge for delivering a Form B faster than the statutory week, and no law caps it. CHOA’s bulletin 300-970 is explicit: the caps apply only when the requester allows the full week, and market rush fees run $200 to $500 with no limit, subject to council approval. VISOA, in fact, goes further: there is no requirement to comply with a rush request at all.
When a rush request lands, the sequence is short:
- Check the deadline the request allows — the strata always has its full week.
- Decide whether to comply early. Speed is a choice, not an obligation.
- If you choose speed, set the fee: per CHOA, whatever council approves or the management agreement permits.
- Match the fee to the request. A rush charge on a request that allowed seven days or more would exceed the Regulation 4.4 cap.
The squeeze on councils is structural. The regulated $35 rarely stays with the strata: VISOA notes a self-managed strata keeps the fee, but where a management company is involved, the contract usually specifies the manager keeps it. Meanwhile, an unregulated layer grows on top.
From our research into BC management pricing, we found Form B, F, and E preparation billed as an extra at the regulated maximum. Fort Park, for instance, adds a $40 service fee on top of eStrataHub platform charges — documented market practice. A council that never reads the document-fee schedule in its management agreement is approving that pricing by default, and owners meet it as a surprise line item at the next sale.
When the certificate is wrong
Getting the certificate wrong is a liability problem, not a paperwork problem. Specifically, under section 59(5), the information disclosed in a Form B binds the strata corporation in its dealings with anyone who relied on the certificate and acted reasonably.
In The Owners, Strata Plan NW 2476 v. Jensen, 2023 BCCRT 623, for example, a prior owner’s alteration and indemnity agreement for two skylights was disclosed on the Form B when Mr. Jensen bought. The tribunal held he became a party to the agreement and ordered him to pay $1,790.99: $1,513.05 for skylight replacement, $52.94 in interest, and $225 in CRT fees. In contrast, a similar agreement in Nguyen v. The Owners, Strata Plan VR 97, 2022 BCCRT 260 did not bind the next owner, and that decision never established the Form B had disclosed it. From our analysis of the two decisions, disclosure was the difference between an agreement that bound the new owner and one that didn’t.
The Form B binds the strata. Section 59(6) is the escape hatch, and it runs through the BC Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, treat those outcomes as persuasive rather than settled: CRT decisions do not bind future panels, and CHOA’s Fall 2025 Journal records criticism of Jensen’s reasoning, which the BC Supreme Court has not reviewed. The tribunal can also order corrections: in Simpson v The Owners, Strata Plan VAS 2876, 2017 BCCRT 43, a Form B showing parking from an unregistered licence agreement had to be corrected to match the registered strata plan.
The Act, meanwhile, builds in two pressure valves. Section 59(6) lets the strata, an owner, or an affected person ask the BC Supreme Court for relief from an inaccurate certificate, and section 59(5.1) makes the insurance summary non-binding if it came from the strata’s insurer or agent.
The receipt: the Form B cost card
Screenshot this before the next council meeting.
| What | Capped? | The number | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Form B fee | Yes | $35 | Strata Property Regulation s.4.4 |
| Reproduction, including the s.59(4) attachments | Yes | Up to 25¢ per page, actual cost | Reg s.4.4 |
| Rush fee (requester wants it in under 7 days) | No | $200-500 market range, no legal limit | CHOA bulletin 300-970 |
| Form F Certificate of Payment | Yes | $15 | Reg s.6.10 |
| Manager platform or service add-ons | Unregulated | e.g. $40 on top of eStrataHub charges | Documented market practice |
| Delivery deadline | n/a | One week; VISOA recommends 7 calendar days | SPA s.59(1) |
Related reading for your council
- Strata depreciation reports in BC — the attachment that decides whether a Form B package looks complete.
- The strata management contract checklist — the clauses that decide who keeps document fees.
- Metro Vancouver fee benchmarks — where document extras sit relative to the base fee.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a Form B in BC real estate?
- A Form B, formally an Information Certificate, is the disclosure document a BC strata corporation must give an owner, purchaser, or authorized person within one week of a request under section 59(1) of the Strata Property Act. It certifies the financial and legal state of one strata lot as of the date it is signed, and must attach the strata's rules, the current budget, and the most recent depreciation report, if any.
- How much can a strata charge for a Form B in BC?
- $35 plus the cost of reproduction up to 25 cents per page, under section 4.4 of the Strata Property Regulation. The cap explicitly includes the required attachments. Section 59(7) of the Act lets the strata refuse to issue the certificate until the fee is paid.
- Can a strata charge a rush fee for a Form B?
- Yes, but only when the requester asks for turnaround faster than the statutory week. The Act is silent on rush fees, so they are uncapped: CHOA reports a market range of $200-500, and VISOA notes there is no requirement to comply with a rush request at all. A rush fee on a request that allowed the full seven days would exceed the Regulation 4.4 cap.
- How long is a strata Form B valid for in BC?
- The Strata Property Act sets no expiry. A Form B is a snapshot, correct only as of the date it is signed, and the strata has no duty to update it afterward. The 60-day expiry buyers hear about is lender and notary practice, not statute, which is why a purchaser's lawyer usually orders a fresh certificate in the days before completion.
- What happens if there is a mistake on the Form B?
- Under section 59(5) of the Strata Property Act, the disclosed information binds the strata corporation in its dealings with anyone who relied on the certificate and acted reasonably. The strata's remedy is section 59(6), an application to the BC Supreme Court for relief from some or all of the consequences. One carve-out exists: under section 59(5.1), the insurance summary is not binding if the information came from the strata's insurer or insurance agent.
