Experienced, Professional Property Managers at your Service

How Residential Stratas And Strata Management Work

HomeLife started its property management division in 1993 and has successfully managed thousands of rental properties over the years. Currently HomeLife manages the largest rental portfolio and continues to grow. We pride ourselves on our professionalism and dedication to our clients.

HomeLife expanded to form an independent Strata Property Management division in 1996.

HomeLife is the largest local property management company and is led by a long-standing management and administration staff some of whom have worked at HomeLife for over a decade.

we look forward to working with you and your property.

How Residential Stratas Work

Residential Stratas
  • These are buildings/properties that are separated into individual lots and used as residences
  • Share walls and/or common property

 

The following are residential
  • Apartments/Condos (yes, even airspace condos!)
  • Townhouses
  • Detached houses (also known as bare-land strata)

 

How Bare-Land Strata Corporations Are Different

Bare-land strata corporations are made of detached homes. Walls aren’t shared with other tenants. The strata council only maintains common property, not individual residences.

Bare-land strata councils are also in charge of bylaws and bylaw enforcement, just like regular strata councils.

Common property in bare-land strata corporations includes:
  • Parking lots
  • Pools
  • Roadways

 

Property owners must deal with their own maintenance, such as:
  • Roof repair
  • Water leaks
  • Painting
  • Landscaping

Strata Services

Financial Organising

Financial Planning

We’re here to advise you with structuring your budget. We assist with:

> Your budgeting process

  • Most reasonable budget for each independent strata
  • Capital planning

> Depreciation reports (planning and preparing for maintenance)

  • Reroofing
  • Repainting

> Contingency fund requirements

  • Put in place as a safety net for all emergency needs.

 

Records and Transaction

We help you keep accurate records of:

  • Payables
  • Receivables
  • Payroll services
  • Employee bondingAn agreement put in place that protects the strata against theft or damage by a hired worker (e.g. a contractor). If the worker causes damage to the strata development, they have to pay for the repairs.

We also produce:

  • Strata fee schedules
  • Operating budgets
  • Monthly financial statements

Your Manager is always available to answer any questions you may have.

Revenue Assurance

Hate collecting fees? We do it for you! We process all fees that are collected through:

  • Mail
  • Auto-deposit
  • In-person transactions

You’ll get help with:

  • Levies
  • Miscellaneous charges
  • Bylaw infractions
  • Lien process
  • Interest
  • Collection of delinquent accounts
  • Outstanding strata fees
  • Fine assessments

We deposit all funds to your

Strata Trust AccountAn account kept strictly for all strata funds.

Communication

Consultative Meetings

Each strata is different - we tailor to all of them. If we can’t do something because we’re not experts in that field, we assist you in finding the right person.

Examples of required experts are:

  • Architects
  • Lawyers
  • Engineers

 

Constant Communication

You’re always able to contact us, and we’ll always keep you up to date with changes, such as:

  • Daily operations within your strata
  • Water shut-offs
  • Capital asset projects (reroofing, etc.)
  • Changes to garbage schedule
  • Legislative requirements
  • Changes to rental restriction bylaws
  • New cannabis legislation

 

Streamlined Meetings
Strata management = a plethora of meetings.

We’re here to help organise any meetings that need to take place, such as:

  • AGM (annual general meeting) Required once a year
  • SGM (special general meeting)
  • Called at any time by owners or council.
  • Deals with bylaws
  • General council meetings
  • Meetings with elected officials
  • Deals with the month to month details of strata.
  • Regularly scheduled.

We help enforce attendance by emailing reminders, and preparing and distributing agendas.

Emergency Services

If the worst happens (e.g. fire or flood), we support you and your Council through the difficult times ahead.

We offer:

  • A 24-hour emergency service for all owners

...and organisation of:

  • The clean-up
  • Insurance claims
  • Anything else that crops up in an emergency.

 

Legal & Upkeep Services

Repairs and Maintenance

Your strata is responsible for the upkeep of the building’s common property - which changes with each strata.

Examples of maintenance:

  • The roof
  • Paint
  • Carpets
  • Windows
  • Doors
  • Elevator
  • Roadways
  • Underground parking
  • Landscape maintenance

Because of our size, we have huge negotiating power to get you discounts on repair and maintenance contracts. We also aid with:

The bidding process
Administration of all contract services

Insurance and Government Responsibilities

Get assistance with the organization of the Annual Appraisal of Assets (industry standard insurance appraisal) and any insurance claims.

Our expertise gives you an advantage in negotiating insurance premiums.

Every year, we prepare and submit a T-2 Taxation Form to Canada Revenue Agency.

We also prepare and submit any documentation required by WorkSafe BC.

To Contractors who work for our clients should have WorkSafe and adequate insurance.

We ensure they do.

Site Management

We act as your representative in all Site Management responsibilities, such as...

...regular monthly property inspections and reports

...supervision of on-site maintenance workers

...assistance with bylaw and rules enforcement procedures

  • we work with the contractors on site, monitor what they’re doing, set expectations, and confirm the work was done properly.
  • If there are issues, we act as the voice of the Strata council.
    We enforce any contracts.

 

Legal Services

We act as your registered office for all:

  • Legal documents
  • Meeting Minutes
  • Registers
  • Financial records pertaining to your strata property

We also liaise with your lawyers on any legal matters, such as:

  • Wording of bylaws
  • Wording of any resolutions of expenditures
  • Enforcement of bylaws
  • Foreclosure proceedings.
  • Negotiating deals with the city in regards to land requisition.
  • Land acquisition.

We liaise with the council through the civil resolution tribunal for any small claims.

It’s required to have a legal address for all strata documents to be stored and delivered to.

With us as that point of contact for you, there’s no worry over registering a different address every year (which happens if you use a council member as the point of contact). You only have to register us once.

Ready To Hire A Property Management Company?

Follow This Simple 4 Step Process!

Step 1: Special General Meeting
First things first – have a General Meeting (AGM or SGM) to ensure that the corporation approves a budget that includes management services by a 3/4 vote.

Step 2: Sever Ties
This step only applies to you if you’re changing companies.

Your council must approach your current management company and ask to be let out of their contract.

Step 3: First Contact
Request a proposal and phone us at 604-858-7368

Is your previous company reluctant to let you go? The property management company you’re changing to can aid you in making the switch.

Step 4: Agency Agreement
Your new company can’t provide any services until the Agency Agreement is in place. It goes hand in hand with the proposal.

You need to bring the minutes of your SGM (where you decided to change/add your company) before the agreement can be finalised.

They can work behind the scenes (give guidance) until the agreement is set.

This takes a maximum of 2 days. Once set, the changes are official!