BC Business
The panel was hosted by the Urban Development Institute
Developers on the hunt for low-rise complexes are finding the process easier than it used to be since the passing of new provincial rules last month. Those complexes, where owners have individual units, but share common property and assets under what’s called a strata corporation, have become prime targets for development. In the region, they range from small duplexes to older condo towers with hundreds of units.
With the change to strata property law per Bill 40, 80 per cent of all owners must approve terminating the strata corporation before the building can be sold. This used to require 100 per cent approval—which builders, developers and planners at a recent Urban Development Institute forum—said was near impossible. This makes strata buildings, especially ageing ones, better opportunities for developers looking to renovate and rebuild on large plots of land.
But the process is far from simple.
“Take all of your in-laws and stick them in a building, that’s what strata corps are like,” said Tony Gioventu, of the Condominium Housing Association of B.C, speaking at the forum in late November. “And families are about money.”
But redevelopments can have significant windfalls for condo owners in older buildings, who might want out when the maintenance costs become too high. And for those sellers, timing is everything. According to Gioventu, the strata corporation must weigh the maintenance costs of staying against the property’s maximum market value. The 40-year mark is typically the tipping point, he said, so complexes built in the 1980s could be ripe for redevelopment.
One area where the new rules could have a significant impact is along the Evergreen Line corridor in the Tri-Cities, where developers are actively looking for opportunities to move into older complexes and redevelop said Jim McIntyre, General Manager of Planning and Development in Coquitlam. According to McIntyre, the corridor has many pre-1985 two- and three-storey wood frame townhouse properties.
But navigating a strata dissolution can come with drama. As Tony Gioventu put it: “everybody has to be a social worker.” In every meeting there’s at least one owner who says ‘I’m leaving this building horizontally,” and then someone to answer back, “Can you put that in writing?”