Fee Simple
Title (or ownership) to most real estate is held in what is called “fee simple” ownership. This includes most single family homes, town house and apartment condominiums, commercial properties and vacant lots or land.
Strata Title
Condominiums are a special type of “fee simple” ownership called “strata title”. This means you have “title” or ownership of both your own town house or apartment unit and, along with the other strata owners, you also own a portion of the “common property” in and around the building.
- Strata Corporations and Bylaws – The Condominium Act (Revised Statutes of BC 1996, Chapter 64) and the bylaws of the strata corporation set out the rules and regulations which determine each owner’s rights and obligations to other owners.
- The strata corporation is created when the original developer files a strata plan in the Land Title Office. The members of the strata corporation are the current owners of the
- The Condominium Act sets out the duties and powers of the corporation and the voting rights of the members. An important duty of the strata corporation is the duty to obtain appropriate insurance.
- The Strata Corporation automatically has the bylaws contained in the Act. The bylaws cannot usually be changed until after the first annual general meeting of the members of the strata corporation. The bylaws can be amended by a majority of not less than three-quarters of the votes of all persons entitled to vote.