British Columbia · Strata Property Act

When is our strata's depreciation report due?

The 2024 changes replaced the old three-year review with a hard five-year cycle, phased in first deadlines by region, and removed the annual ¾ vote that used to let a strata defer a report indefinitely. Tell us where you stand and we'll work out your date — with the section behind it.

How many strata lots are in the strata plan?

Which best describes your strata?

Where is the strata located?

Date of your most recent depreciation report

Date the strata plan was deposited / registered — the date the strata legally came into existence Date of the first annual general meeting — if it hasn't happened yet, use the expected date

Depreciation report due by

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✓ Verified September 21, 2026 · Strata Property Act, ss. 94, 96; Strata Property Regulation, ss. 6.1, 6.2, 6.21 to 6.23

Sources checked automatically every Monday. Last check October 5, 2026, no change found. See the record

Once the report is in hand

A depreciation report isn't a filing you tick off — it feeds two things the council must actually do.

It must be considered when setting the annual CRF contribution from the second year on. Check your CRF contribution →
It becomes a strata record owners and buyers can request. Records request deadlines →

Strata Property Regulation, s. 6.1(1) (CRF contribution "determined after consideration of the most recent depreciation report, if any"); Strata Property Act, s. 35–36 (records).

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The obligation, and why the dates live in the regulation

Section 94 of the Strata Property Act is what requires a depreciation report at all — a report on the strata's common property and assets, what they'll cost to repair or replace, and how the contingency reserve fund measures up. As with everything else on this site, the Act creates the obligation and the Strata Property Regulation supplies the timing.

What changed in 2024 is the timing, not the existence of the duty. The Province's official guidance now states it plainly:

"All strata corporations with five or more lots must obtain depreciation reports on a five-year cycle. Strata corporations with four or fewer lots continue to be exempted and are not required to obtain depreciation reports." — gov.bc.ca, depreciation report requirements

Three practical shifts sit inside that: a fixed five-year renewal cycle (not the old three-year-with-review pattern), staggered first deadlines by region so the whole province wasn't hitting the same date, and the end of the annual ¾ vote a strata could once use to keep putting a report off.

The regional phase-in, for stratas that don't have a current report

The phase-in catches an existing strata of five or more lots established before July 1, 2024 that has not obtained a depreciation report since December 31, 2020 (Reg. s. 6.21 (3)). If yours has one from 2021 or later, you are on the ordinary five-year cycle instead, not on these dates. For everyone the phase-in does catch, the first deadline is set by where the strata is:

Metro Vancouver · Fraser Valley · Capital Regional District by July 1, 2026

Everywhere else in B.C. by July 1, 2027

Those three regions are the "specified area" the Regulation defines, and it excludes an island within the Capital Regional District or Metro Vancouver that is reachable only by air or boat (Reg. s. 6.21 (1)). A strata on one of those islands works to July 1, 2027.

The July 1, 2026 date for the three high-density regions has already passed. A strata in one of them that still doesn't have a report isn't "coming up on a deadline" — it's past one, and the fix is to get a report underway now, not to wait for anything.

Newly created stratas, and the developer's first report

A strata registered on or after July 1, 2024 works off its first annual general meeting instead of the regional dates. Registered between July 1, 2024 and July 1, 2027, the first report is due within two years of the first AGM; registered on or after July 1, 2027, it tightens to within 18 months. For the newest stratas the developer also has to fund that first report — a minimum of $5,000 plus $200 per lot, capped at $30,000 — with the money due by the first AGM.

What a depreciation report costs

No published authority states a price. The Province's own guidance goes this far and no further:

"Depreciation reports will range in price, depending on the size and complexity of the strata corporation's common assets and buildings." — gov.bc.ca, strata depreciation reports: practical tips

We are not going to invent a range. A number with no source behind it is worth nothing to a council defending a budget line, and it is the one thing this site will not publish. What we can tell you is what you are paying for, because the Regulation specifies it. Section 6.2 requires every one of the following, and each one costs somebody's time:

a physical component inventory based on an on-site visual inspection of the site, carried out by the person preparing the report (s. 6.2 (2) (a));
a description and estimated service life over 30 years of the structure, exterior, systems, amenities, parking, utilities, landscaping, interior finishes, green building components, and balconies and patios (s. 6.2 (2) (b));
anticipated maintenance, repair and replacement costs projected over 30 years (s. 6.2 (3) (a));
at least three cash-flow funding models for the contingency reserve fund across those same 30 years (s. 6.2 (3) (e));
the provider's qualifications, their errors and omissions insurance if any, and their relationship to the strata corporation (s. 6.2 (1) (d)).

That is why two stratas with the same number of units can be quoted very differently: the work scales with the number and complexity of components to be inspected and modelled, not with the lot count. The only way to get quotes you can actually compare is to send every firm the same scope. CHOA publishes a request-for-proposal template for exactly that.

Who is allowed to write one

This is the part councils miss, and it is recent. For any depreciation report obtained on or after July 1, 2025, the person preparing it must hold one of six specific credentials. A general consultant, your property manager, or a contractor's replacement-cost estimate does not satisfy section 94, however thorough the document looks.

The person must have the knowledge and expertise to understand the components, scope and complexity of your common property and common assets, and must be one of the following (Reg. s. 6.2 (0.1)):

a professional engineer or professional licensee engineering registered with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia;
an architect or architectural technologist registered with the Architectural Institute of British Columbia;
an applied science technologist or certified technician registered with the Applied Science Technologists and Technicians of British Columbia;
a person designated Accredited Appraiser Canadian Institute by the Appraisal Institute of Canada;
a certified reserve planner accredited by the Real Estate Institute of Canada;
a person designated Professional Quantity Surveyor by the Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors.

Ask for the credential in writing before you sign anything. The report has to name the person and describe their qualifications (s. 6.2 (1) (d)), so whatever you accept will be visible to every owner, purchaser and lender who reads the report afterwards.

What the report is worth once you have it

A depreciation report is not a document you file and forget. Three things change the day it lands.

Spending the contingency reserve fund gets easier. A CRF expenditure "related to the repair, maintenance or replacement recommended in the most current depreciation report" — of common property, common assets, or the parts of a strata lot the corporation has taken responsibility for under s. 72 (3) — is approved by a majority vote at an annual or special general meeting. The same expenditure, without that recommendation behind it, needs a 3/4 vote. For a council that expects a fight over a roof or a boiler, getting the work named in the report is the difference between a simple majority and a supermajority. (Strata Property Act s. 96 (b) (i) (A) (II), against clause (B).)

The annual reserve contribution has to take it into account. For every fiscal year except the one following your first AGM, the annual CRF contribution "must be determined after consideration of the most recent depreciation report, if any" (Reg. s. 6.1 (1)). It is a process requirement about considering the report, not a formula: it does not set the dollar figure by itself. Our CRF contribution tool covers the 10 per cent floor that does.

It follows the strata on resale. The corporation must retain every depreciation report it obtains (Act s. 35 (2) (n.1)), and the most recent one must be attached to the Information Certificate, the Form B, whenever an owner or purchaser requests one (Act s. 59 (4) (d)). A missing or stale report is something a buyer's lawyer sees.

We have four lots. Are we really off the hook entirely?: Yes, for the obligation to obtain a depreciation report. The exemption for strata plans with four or fewer lots (Strata Property Regulation s. 6.22, for the purposes of Act s. 94(2)) carried through the 2024 changes. Note it's a different thing from the CRF contribution floor, which has no lot-count exemption — a small strata still contributes to the reserve fund even with no report to consider.
Can we still vote to defer the report like we used to?: No. The annual ¾ vote that let a strata put off getting a report indefinitely was removed in the 2024 changes. A strata that relied on that vote in the past now falls under the regional deadline above.
Is the five years measured from the report date or from an AGM?: From the report. Once you have a depreciation report, the next one is due within five years of it — this tool's "renew" option measures exactly that. The regional July 2026 / July 2027 dates are one-time transition deadlines for stratas that don't yet have a current report, not the ongoing cycle.
Does getting the report change how much we put in the reserve fund?: Indirectly. From the second fiscal year after the first AGM, the annual CRF contribution must be "determined after consideration of the most recent depreciation report, if any" (Regulation s. 6.1(1)). That's a process requirement about considering the report — it doesn't set the dollar figure by itself. Our CRF contribution tool covers the amount.
Is this legal advice?: No — general information based on the current legislation and the Province's published guidance, verified against gov.bc.ca on the date shown. For a report that's already overdue, a disputed exemption, or a developer-transition question, talk to a strata lawyer.