The vendor-neutral BC strata management RFP template

Why use a one-page RFP?

A BC strata management RFP should state the building, service scope, fees, contract terms and proposed manager. This template has ten fields for comparable replies, drawing on BCFSA’s management-company checklist (checked November 6, 2026). Ask each firm the same questions and publish your scoring criteria before replies arrive.

The goal isn’t a beautiful document. It’s a proposal you can compare line by line.

What a strata RFP is and isn’t

What is an RFP in a BC strata context?

An RFP asks firms to propose services and fees against a common scope.

The SPA governs council authority and funding; it does not prescribe a management RFP form. Use the fields below to request comparable replies.

The relevant statute for the firms answering you is the Real Estate Services Act (RESA). The Real Estate Services Rules made under it require a written service agreement unless the strata corporation waives it (section 43) and disclosure of third-party remuneration (section 56). The BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) enforces them. Your RFP should mirror those disclosure obligations so every firm answers them the same way. A firm that treats your RFP as a one-page summary and responds with a glossy brochure is telling you something. A firm that responds in the same structure, section by section, is telling you something different.

Who should send a strata management RFP

Which BC strata councils need to run an RFP?

Use an RFP when council is considering a switch or reviewing an approaching renewal. For a change using Section 39(1), compare proposals before the general-meeting vote. If council uses the contract terms or non-renewal route instead, confirm the applicable approval and notice requirements.

A council is “considering a switch” the moment the president writes is there a better option? in a meeting minute. That’s the trigger. From that point, there’s a sequence: validate the fee against benchmarks, discuss at council, send the RFP, review proposals, obtain any required approval, then issue the termination letter. Run the RFP before any required SGM. That converts the SGM from a referendum on the incumbent into a decision between the incumbent and named alternatives.

The second case is quieter but equally important. Under section 39(1) of the Strata Property Act, the strata corporation may cancel on two months’ notice after a 3/4 vote at an AGM or SGM. Section 39(2) does not require prior approval for cancellation under the contract’s terms or refusal to renew when it expires. Read your agreement’s term, automatic-renewal clause, and notice deadline before planning the RFP. If a renewal deadline is approaching, use the RFP to compare alternatives. The statutory cancellation route in section 39(1) remains available despite contrary contract terms. Send the RFP and the incumbent can compete for the work on the same terms as everyone else. Send one only if council is open to a change: each firm spends real time on a proposal.

Before either case, benchmark what you’re paying. Compare your current fee against the Metro Vancouver market before deciding an RFP is warranted. If you’re in the middle band for your building size, an RFP is unlikely to lower the fee, so run one for service reasons.

What should the RFP include?

What goes on a one-page BC strata RFP?

Include ten sections covering the building, service, price, terms and proposed manager. The ten sections below are the whole template, and each firm answers in the same order. A 38-unit townhouse complex in Burnaby and a 240-unit concrete tower in Yaletown use the same ten sections. Only the answers differ.

Here it is, in order. Each section has a plain-English prompt and a one-line note on why it’s there.

1. Building profile: units, type (lowrise / townhouse / highrise / mixed-use), year built, amenities, current per-unit fee, current annual operating budget. Anchors the fee proposal in your specifics, not a generic quote.
2. Scope of services: pick one: full-service, limited, or financial-only. Do not ask firms to price all three; you’ll get three confused quotes.
3. Response timeline and format: fourteen days, written, structured in this order. Prevents brochure responses. If you have more time, 30 days (the RFP builder’s suggestion) lets firms send fuller answers.
4. Fee structure disclosure: monthly fee per unit, monthly minimum, what’s included versus extra, rush-fee schedule, third-party compensation under RESA. The compounding cost is in the exclusions, not the headline fee.
5. Contract term and termination: preferred term, termination notice, automatic-renewal position, fee-escalation clauses. VISOA and CHOA both warn councils about these clauses.
6. Insurance coordination: who manages the annual renewal, who holds the broker relationship, whether broker commission is disclosed.
7. Communication expectations: response-time SLA, portal access, council meeting cadence, who answers when the named manager is on vacation.
8. Transition obligations: document handover under Section 37, vendor re-introduction plan, overlap with outgoing firm.
9. References: three current clients of similar building size. Disqualify dissimilar references.
10. Disciplinary history disclosure: confirm BCFSA Find a Professional record is clean, disclose any prior decisions.

That’s the template. It fits on one sheet of letter paper with room for your letterhead. The hard part isn’t writing it. It’s staying disciplined when firms ask to respond in their own format. Say no. The whole point of the structure is comparability. It’s fairer to the firms too: each one answers the same questions and is scored on the same criteria.

One page, ten sections, fourteen days. If a firm can’t answer in that structure, ask why.

Fee structure disclosure: the section that does the work

What fee information must a BC strata management RFP ask for?

Six items: base monthly fee, per-unit fee, monthly minimum, inclusions versus extras, rush-fee schedule, and third-party compensation disclosed per RESA. Leaving any of these out is how councils end up surprised by bills in month four that didn’t exist in the proposal.

Eli Report’s April 2025 analysis reports a BC average management fee of $35/unit/month, across building sizes. Wynford’s Vancouver page gives an illustrative full-service range of $25 to $55 per unit per month (checked November 6, 2026). Compare current quotes on the same scope.

The monthly minimum is the hidden variable. Fort Park, a BC management firm listed on Strata Match, wrote in March 2024 that many firms now require a minimum of $1,500 or even $2,000 a month. A 12-unit townhouse complex paying $30/unit is paying $360/month on paper but $1,500 in effect if the firm has a $1,500 minimum. Ask for the minimum explicitly. If a firm lists a per-unit rate without a minimum, ask whether one applies before you compare.

Inclusions versus extras is where councils get surprised most. Section 43 of the Real Estate Services Rules requires the service agreement to describe the services and the fees, including when each fee is payable, but the specificity varies widely. Common “extras” in BC include Form B fees: section 4.4 of the Strata Property Regulation caps the strata corporation’s charge at $35 plus up to 25 cents a page (a number that has not moved in a decade), and some firms add platform or rush fees on top. Others show up as additional council meetings beyond a contracted number, year-end audit support, rush document fees, and special project management. A January 2022 CHOA bulletin on fee increases described a Richmond strata facing a 50% management fee increase after only two years. The RFP question is simple: What is included in the base fee, and what is billed separately, with rates?

Third-party compensation is the RESA-specific disclosure. Section 56 of the Real Estate Services Rules requires licensees to promptly disclose covered third-party remuneration paid or payable to their brokerage. The disclosure to the client must include its source, amount (or likely amount or calculation method if unknown), and other relevant facts. In plain English, this means payments from preferred vendors and referral fees from contractors. Covered vendor remuneration must be disclosed; insurance referral payments to unlicensed managers are prohibited by Financial Institutions Act s.178. Section 58 adds that a manager who expects a benefit from money the strata spends must disclose what it is before accepting it. Ask for the source, amount or calculation method, and timing of any covered payment. The disclosure itself isn’t disqualifying. The refusal to make it is.

For a deeper dive on how to read a proposed contract once a firm responds, see the strata management contract checklist.

Scope: full, limited, or financial-only

How do you define scope in a strata RFP?

Pick one of three service models and describe it in one paragraph. Don’t mix categories and don’t let the firm define scope for you. The scope section is where firms either match your needs or politely decline, which is the honest outcome either way.

Full-service management is the default for most BC buildings: financial management, administrative support, bylaw enforcement assistance, meeting attendance, maintenance coordination, 24/7 emergency line, insurance renewal coordination, and SPA compliance guidance. If your current firm provides anything close to this and you’re switching on service grounds, your RFP scope is full-service.

Limited-service management covers financials plus bylaw enforcement and emergency response; the council handles meeting preparation, vendor coordination, and day-to-day correspondence. Smaller buildings priced out of full-service minimums sometimes use this model when the council is already doing part of the work. For a 14-unit townhouse complex where the council is already doing half the work, limited-service is often the honest match.

Financial-only management is narrower: monthly statements, fee collection, accounts payable, and year-end reporting. No meetings, no bylaw enforcement, no vendor management. For a 9-unit courtyard building with retired owners who enjoy the work, it’s an option. It is not an option if the council is already burning out.

Do not ask the firms to propose which scope fits. That is a decision the council makes before the RFP goes out. Letting firms pick scope on your behalf means comparing three different services at three different prices, which is not a comparison at all.

Transitions: what to require in section eight

What transition obligations should a strata RFP specify?

Three: document handover under SPA Section 37, vendor re-introduction within thirty days, and an agreed overlap window with the outgoing firm. Councils that don’t specify transition obligations in the RFP discover them during the transition, which is the worst time to negotiate them.

Section 37 of the Strata Property Act requires the management provider to return section 35 records in its possession or control within four weeks after the contract ends. BCFSA’s guidance separately describes a deadline for specified financial records on request: the later of four weeks after termination or two weeks after the request. Ask the incoming firm to coordinate the handover and flag missing records on an agreed timetable. Most firms will agree in writing. If one hedges, ask what it can commit to.

Vendor re-introduction is the second obligation. A mid-rise in Kitsilano might have a dozen vendor relationships: cleaning, elevator, landscaping, fire safety, HVAC, window washing, insurance, legal, banking, garbage, parking enforcement, pest control. Each vendor needs a formal introduction from the new firm within the first thirty days, with written confirmation that contracts will be honoured. The RFP should require a named handover contact and a thirty-day re-introduction plan. Vendor dropouts in months two and three frustrate councils, and a clear introduction plan prevents most of them.

Plan any overlap around the outgoing contract’s actual end date and the incoming agreement’s start date. Two months’ notice is not a fixed sixty-day overlap. The RFP should specify that the incoming firm will invoice a coordination fee during the overlap and be present at the first council meeting with the outgoing firm still in role. Overlap costs a firm staff time, so expect it to be priced. A firm that plans for it in its proposal has thought about how the handover will run.

For approval, notice and handover planning, see the transition playbook.

References: three, similar, current

What references should a BC strata RFP require?

Three, from buildings of similar size and type, currently managed by the firm. Former-client references and dissimilar-building references are out. A 280-unit highrise reference does not tell you how a firm manages your 32-unit lowrise, and vice versa.

BCFSA’s list of questions for choosing a management company includes references from other strata corporations the company or the proposed manager now manages. Ask for the proposed manager’s buildings, not the firm’s in general. This distinction matters. A firm with forty managers can produce three glowing references for any proposal without those references having met the specific manager assigned to you. The RFP should name the constraint in one line. Ask for three buildings within ±40% of your unit count, same type, in the Metro Vancouver region, currently managed by the manager the firm proposes to assign.

When you call the references, ask three questions in this order. First: how long has your current manager been with the firm? Second: how did the firm handle your most recent difficult decision (insurance renewal, major repair, special levy)? Third: would you hire them again? The last question is the one where hesitation tells you everything. A reference that says “yes, we’d hire them again” without pause is a clean signal. A reference that caveats the answer has told you about a failure mode the firm won’t put in a proposal.

Reference quality is where most RFP evaluations go wrong. Councils call the references, get pleasant answers, and tick the box. The better practice is to write down the specific answers to each question and compare them across firms. The firm whose references describe a manager who has been in the role four years is a different firm from the one whose references describe the third manager in two years. The RFP collects the references; the evaluation reads them.

How to score the responses

How should a BC council score strata management proposals?

Out of 100, on six criteria you put in the RFP before firms reply. A Strata Match RFP uses these, with their points: firm capacity and assigned manager (20), relevant experience (20), service approach and service levels (20), references and standing (15), local presence and emergency response (10), and fees and value (15). Fees count, but at 15 points of 100 a low price alone can’t make up for a weak manager.

The criteria follow what the RFP asks every firm to send, and they draw on BCFSA’s list of questions for choosing a management company. Manager turnover and slow replies, two of the most common council complaints, are scored under capacity and service approach. Score each criterion from 0 to 5 (0 doesn’t meet, 3 meets, 5 exceeds); each score is a share of that criterion’s points, so a 4 on a 20-point criterion gives 16. The proposal scoresheet adds up the totals for you.

To rate your current manager before you go to market, see the strata manager performance scorecard. It uses a 1-to-5 sheet with ten dimensions of its own. For the answer to whether a fee response is even in the market, see the Metro Vancouver fee benchmarks.

A common scoring failure is inconsistent evaluators. Three council members each read three proposals and each scores on a different mental model, so the rank order reflects who read which proposal, not which proposal is best. The fix is a scoring sheet. One sheet per council member, same sheet, scored independently, averaged. Dull, but reliable.

Who to send the RFP to

How do councils find firms to send the RFP to?

There are three ways: your existing network, public records like the BCFSA licence register plus association directories, or a ranked list such as your Strata Match top 5, which shows the firms that fit your building with their published contact details. The last two matter most for small buildings, where the “too small” problem is acute.

The acute problem for small buildings: Fort Park wrote in March 2024 that many strata corporations under 50 units will have a challenge finding a management company. Not every licensed brokerage is taking new clients. Emailing the first four companies a search turns up often gets few replies. The other option is asking peers in your network for referrals, which works if you have the network.

Need a send list? Your top 5 ranks the firms that fit your building’s size, type and city, with the reasons and each firm’s published contact details. Council asks each firm directly whether it is taking new buildings.

If you’re building the send list yourself, start with the BCFSA Find a Professional registry and then cross-reference public directories by municipality. Check each candidate firm’s licence before including them in the RFP send list. Licensing status is a zero-cost filter: a firm with a suspended licence is a firm that cannot serve you regardless of what the proposal says.

The RFP template: copy, paste, send

Fill in the building, scope and deadline, then ask three to five firms to reply.

The whole document runs to roughly 400 words once filled in. One page. Ten sections. Up to five firms. Fourteen days. That’s the process.

Print it. Fill it in. Add the six criteria and their points under the table, so firms know how they’ll be scored, and send it to your top 3 or all 5. When the responses come back, score them on those six criteria. Review the preferred agreement and obtain any required approval before giving notice. The applicable contract and notice route determine the termination and takeover dates.

See up to five firms that fit your building →

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Related tools for your council

• Should you even send the RFP?: run the 6-question Manager scorecard on your current firm first. If the result says your manager is doing well, save yourself the process.
• Browse BC strata management firms by city: check each firm’s licence on BCFSA’s Find a Professional before you add it to your send list. Start with Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, or your municipality.
• Build the RFP in the builder: Word and PDF, ready to send to the firms on your shortlist.

Sources

Checked against the sources below on November 6, 2026 (BC Laws: Acts current to October 27, 2026; regulations to November 3, 2026). This is general information, not legal or financial advice.

• Real Estate Services Rules (B.C. Reg. 209/2021)
• Financial Institutions Act, s.178 (insurance referral payments)
• Real Estate Services Act
• Strata Property Act, Part 4: governance, records and contracts
• Strata Property Regulation, s.4.4
• BCFSA, working with a strata management company
• Eli Report, “Why are condo fees so different across Canada?” (April 2025)
• Wynford, Strata management in Vancouver (checked November 6, 2026)
• Fort Park Property Management, “Why strata management companies fire their clients” (March 2024)
• CHOA bulletin 300-977, management fees and increases (January 2022)