What Is a Strata Council and How Do They Work?

Introduction

Installing EV chargers in Strata buildings is a long and difficult process. It may be surprising to hear that it can often take a year for them to approve the project. The more you know about how strata councils work, the more this starts to make sense. This article will provide a high-level overview of strata councils in BC and how they work in regards to EV charging.

I'll keep this as simple and entertaining as possible.

What is a Strata Council?

The strata council is essentially a group of decision-makers for the building. They call the shots. They're in charge of running the show on behalf of the rest of the strata owners in the building.

Definition

In technical terms, the Strata Property Act states that the role of the strata council is to "exercise the powers and perform the duties of the strata corporation," which includes the enforcement of bylaws and rules.

What Does the Strata Council Do?

Plainly speaking, they must follow through with the actions that the rest of the building has voted to approve. For example, if the owners in the building voted yes to installing EV Charging stations, then it’s up to the Strata council to make it happen. They have many responsibilities, but mostly they ensure everything is running smoothly in the building.

Examples of Strata Council Responsibilities

• Organizing and leading general meetings

• Establishing the budget and creating financial records

• Accumulating strata fees and other debts owed to the strata corporation

• Enforcing the organization's bylaws and rules

• Hiring and overseeing the strata corporation's staff

How to Decide Who is on the Strata Council?

The unit owners in the building (strata owners) vote them in. Usually, it's pretty obvious who should be on the council. There are typically a few people who are already very involved in the ongoing daily activities of the building and are trusted. In my building, our strata president is my friend's mom. She's a great leader and handles everything. Everyone in our building has complete trust in her and can rely on her to solve any problem.

Electing the Strata Council

Members of the strata council are typically elected once a year during the "Annual General Meeting". All buildings are different, but usually, there are between 3 to 7 people on the council.

Strata President

The strata president is the leading figure in the group. They are unique and hold special decision-making powers. "While most responsibilities are shared among all council members, the president has specific duties such as chairing meetings, holding the tie-breaking vote at meetings, and acting as the main strata council contact for the strata agent."

Hiring a Property Manager / Strata Manager

Being on the strata council of a building is a big job, especially if the number of residents is in the multiple hundreds. As you can imagine, they often need help. This is when they usually seek the assistance of a strata manager, sometimes called a property manager, to provide support and guidance.

“A strata council, can engage a strata manager, also known as a property manager, to undertake most or all of the council's functions. Nonetheless, even if some powers are delegated to the strata manager, the strata council retains the ultimate accountability for fulfilling its obligations under the Strata Property Act.”

Strata Funds - Where Does the Money Come From?

Strata buildings require owners to pay a monthly fee known as the strata fee. Generally, the older the building, the higher the strata fees. This is because things tend to depreciate over time and are more likely to need repairs. The money collected each month is contributed to a fund that is used for the building's upkeep. In fact, there are two funds - the operating fund and the contingency reserve fund.

Operating Fund

Examples of Operating Fund expenses include things like: monthly utilities; seasonal landscaping, weekly cleaning, minor maintenance.

Contingency Fund

The Contingency Reserve Fund (CRF) is set aside to cover the costs of unexpected expenses. This might include projects like roof replacement, elevator modernization, or roadway resurfacing. In my building, we had a flood and the elevator broke. We had to dip into the contingency fund to get the elevators fixed and fund many renovations.

EV Charging Project Approval

The payment for an EV Charging project would come from the Contingency Reserve Fund. As I said, the money to pay for these projects is contributed by all building owners. This is everyone's money, which adds a significant level of responsibility to the decision-making process, especially if most of these people are currently driving gas-powered cars.

Strata Council Meetings

The strata council meets once in a while to discuss matters of the building. (I’m actually heading to a strata council meeting tonight to do a presentation for one of my clients). The council must ensure that their decision is in the best interest of everyone in the building. The council will often discuss amongst themselves about the ongoings of the buildings, but the important meetings where decisions are made only happen once in a while.

Strata Vote

The important meetings are called the "AGM - Annual General Meeting" and sometimes an "SGM - Special General Meeting". These are where the strata council sits in front of a large group of strata resident owners and presents the issues or meeting minutes of the building. Each issue, such as having to replace a broken elevator, is brought up and the owners vote on what action should be taken to resolve these issues.

3/4 Vote to 50% Majority Vote

There are rules that all strata's need to follow in British Columbia. Up until 2023, the approval of an EV charging station required 3/4 of owners to vote yes to greenlight the project. It seemed that not enough projects were getting approved, and in an attempt to speed this process up, changes were made:

“A key change that became effective as of May 11, 2023, is allowing a strata corporation to approve some EV charging decisions by a majority vote instead of by a ¾ vote. Lower voting thresholds make it easier for strata corporations to approve and install electric vehicle charging as a strata corporation expense”

Conclusion

Whenever you're working with strata's, things will take time. This is understandable because they're representing the building as a whole. Their main objective is to ensure the decisions they make are for the betterment of the entire building. When you have hundreds of people's investments relying on the choices you make, you can be sure they will take their time to review all the options and consequences. Additionally, the EV Charging world is still new and most people are unfamiliar with how it operates. As more time passes, the offers and options will become more common knowledge and strata's will feel more confident moving forward with their preferred EV Charging companies.

This one was a bit technical so give me a shout if you have questions.

Don’t be a stranger,

Strong Energy