Buying a Condo in BC: Presale Risks & Strata Fees

You’ve just seen the ad. A brand-new presale condo, priced below similar resale units, with the deposit split into small payments over two years. It feels like a door opening.

Then you read the news: builders under pressure, projects delayed, a few cancelled outright. Is it safe to sign? And if you buy resale instead, is that really any safer?

I’m asking the same questions for my own family, so I went through the rules one by one. Here’s what I found.

If the builder goes under, what happens to my deposit?

This was my first worry, and BC has a fairly clear answer.

Under BC’s Real Estate Development Marketing Act (REDMA), developers must hold buyers’ deposits in trust with a brokerage, lawyer or notary at a BC financial institution. The developer can’t spend your deposit on construction. You can read the rules on the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) website.

That protection has real limits, though.

• It can take a long time. In past BC insolvencies, buyers did get their full deposits back, but some waited 6 to 18 months.
• It protects your deposit, not your price. If prices rose while you waited, your returned deposit buys less than it would have.

Your 7-day window on a presale

Presale buyers in BC can cancel within 7 days, in writing, without a penalty. The clock starts on the later of two dates: the day you signed, or the day you received the disclosure statement.

Many people remember it as “7 days after signing.” That’s not always the right start date. Use those 7 days to have a real estate lawyer read both the contract and the disclosure statement.

The presale risks people talk about less

Bankruptcy makes headlines. These are more common:

• Delays. If completion slips, you keep paying rent and your move plans fall apart. Read the “outside date” clause carefully.
• A lower appraisal at completion. You agree on a price two or three years before the building is finished. If the home appraises lower at completion, the lender may lend only on the appraised value, and you could need cash to cover the gap.
• Rate and approval changes. Mortgage pre-approvals rarely last for years. You will likely need to qualify again close to completion, at whatever rates exist then.

What a new build does give you

New homes come with protections resale homes don’t.

BC’s 2-5-10 home warranty. New homes in BC must carry warranty insurance: 2 years for materials and labour, 5 years for the building envelope (think water leaks), and 10 years for structural defects. In a city as rainy as ours, that 5-year envelope coverage matters. BC Housing’s licensing and consumer services explains the coverage.

The first-time buyers’ GST rebate. As covered in Part 1, new homes up to $1 million can qualify for a full GST rebate, if you live in the home and you’re its first occupant. The CRA’s GST/HST notice has the details.

A longer amortization. Buyers of newly built homes can choose a 30-year insured mortgage.

Resale has a cooling-off period too, but it costs money

Since 2023, BC resale buyers have a 3-business-day rescission period after an offer is accepted. According to the BCFSA, you can back out in writing, but you pay the seller 0.25% of the purchase price.

On a $547,800 condo, that’s about $1,370. Presales don’t use this rule. They follow REDMA’s 7-day window instead.

Presale vs. resale at a glance

Strata fees: the “rent” a condo owner still pays

Presale or resale, every condo comes with a monthly strata fee. It pays for shared spaces, the building’s insurance and a contingency reserve fund for future repairs.

Two condos at the same price can have very different fees. Age, elevators, amenities like a gym, and how well the reserve fund has been built all play a part.

And remember Part 2: lenders count half your strata fee as a housing cost when they decide how much you can borrow. A $300 higher fee doesn’t just cost $300 a month. It can lower your approval amount.

Special levies: the bill on top of the bill

When a big repair comes up (a new roof, a leaking envelope, replacing old pipes) and the reserve fund can’t cover it, owners can be charged a special levy. That can mean thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, per unit.

This is why a cheap strata fee isn’t automatically a good sign. It can mean the building hasn’t been saving enough.

The depreciation report rule that changed in 2024

Here’s genuinely good news for buyers. Since July 1, 2024, strata corporations with five or more units must get a depreciation report every five years, and they can no longer vote each year to skip it. The BC government’s depreciation report page lays out the requirements.

A depreciation report forecasts major repairs over the coming decades and what they’ll cost. For a buyer, it’s the best preview of whether a special levy is coming. Many stratas in the Capital Regional District had a deadline of July 1, 2026, for their first report under the new rules.

Documents to request before you sign

Form B is an official BC form, and stratas must now attach more to it, including an insurance summary, the bylaws and rules, and the most recent depreciation report. The BC government’s legislation changes page lists what changed.

Your own insurance still matters

The strata policy covers the building. It doesn’t cover your belongings, and it may not cover the deductible if a leak starts in your unit and damages the suites below. Some buildings have deductibles in the tens of thousands.

When you shop for condo insurance, ask specifically whether your policy covers the strata deductible, and for how much.

Why we haven’t signed anything yet

On price alone, a condo looks so much easier than a house for us.

But once I add strata fees, our own insurance, property tax and the chance of a special levy, “a condo is cheaper to own” stops being automatically true. And a presale asks us to commit today to a life two or three years from now, which feels like a lot to promise with a family of five.

So for now, our plan is simple. Every time a listing catches our eye, we ask for the Form B and the minutes before we let ourselves get excited.

Next up in Part 4: the “buy within five years of getting PR” programs that so many newcomers misunderstand, including what lenders still check when you have no Canadian credit history.