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Monthly fees paid by strata owners (condo and townhome) to cover shared expenses. Here's what they cover, typical ranges, and when a high fee is actually a good thing.
Quick Answer
What Are Strata Fees in Coquitlam?
Monthly fees paid by strata owners (condo and townhome) to cover shared expenses. Here's what they cover, typical ranges, and when a high fee is actually a… Craig Johnston, Top 1% Team Member — Greater Vancouver REALTORS® and 47+ year Tri-Cities resident, can walk you through the local context. Free Strategy Call ends with a written one-page plan in 24 hours.
Strata fees cover exterior maintenance, insurance on the building, common-area utilities, management fees, amenities, and the contingency reserve. They do not cover your unit's interior, your utilities, or your property tax.
Fees vary wildly by building. The useful question isn't 'how high' but 'what do they fund'. A well-funded building with average fees is cheaper over time than a low-fee building with deferred maintenance.
Roof, siding, common areas, landscaping.
The structure, not your unit contents.
Gym, pool, lounge if applicable.
Strata management company services.
The reserve for future major repairs.
Walls, flooring, fixtures — yours to maintain.
Hydro, internet, sometimes heat in older buildings.
You pay that directly to the city.
Extra assessments when reserves are short.
Your own policy covers contents and improvements.
A building with $450/month fees and a healthy reserve is usually cheaper over 10 years than a building with $250/month fees and a sick reserve that produces $40K special levies.
This is why reading strata minutes and depreciation reports matters more than the fee number itself.
I look at the fee, the reserve balance, the depreciation report forecast, the last three years of minutes, and any planned levies. Together they tell you whether the fee is real or too low. A building forecasting zero major work in its depreciation report either has ironclad maintenance or is deferring costs. Minutes tell you which.
Don't buy on fee alone. Buy on fee + reserve + minutes, together.
For years a British Columbia strata could vote each year to skip its depreciation report. That option no longer exists. Under the amended Strata Property Regulation, every strata corporation with five or more lots must obtain a depreciation report on a five-year cycle, and the annual three-quarter-vote deferral was eliminated outright. For strata corporations in Metro Vancouver — which is every building in Coquitlam, Port Moody and Port Coquitlam — the deadline to hold a report dated later than 31 December 2020 was 1 July 2026. The rest of British Columbia has until 1 July 2027. A strata formed after 1 July 2024 gets its first report within two years of its first annual general meeting, then every five years after that.
A second change matters just as much. Since 1 July 2025 only six categories of professional may author a depreciation report in this province: professional engineers, architects, applied science technologists, accredited appraisers, certified reserve planners, and quantity surveyors. A report prepared by anyone outside that list no longer satisfies the requirement, regardless of how thorough it looks.
The practical consequence, reading this in the second half of 2026: when you request documents on a Coquitlam apartment or townhome, the depreciation report is not optional reading any more — it is a compliance question. If the corporation cannot produce a current one, that is a live problem in a building you are about to own a share of. If it can, it was almost certainly commissioned inside the last eighteen months, which means the repair costings inside it are recent rather than a decade stale. That is the most honest forecast of your future fees and levies you will ever be handed, and it costs you nothing to open.
Since 1 November 2023, a strata approving its budget at an annual general meeting must put a minimum of ten per cent of the operating budget into the contingency reserve fund. That floor is why a great many Tri-Cities buildings stepped their fees up across 2024 and 2025. Costs did not suddenly explode — leaving a reserve underfunded simply stopped being permitted. A building whose fee rose for that reason is in better condition than one that never moved at all.
Take the monthly amount, multiply by the number of lots, multiply by twelve. That is roughly the money arriving each year. Set it beside the operating budget in the document package. If the two will not reconcile, then either some lots pay a different share, the corporation has commercial or parking income, or the budget you are holding is out of date. Each of those deserves a question before you remove subjects.
Five hundred and twenty dollars on 1,150 square feet works out to roughly forty-five cents a foot. Three hundred and ninety dollars on 620 square feet is closer to sixty-three cents. The larger monthly figure is the cheaper building to hold. Comparing raw dollars across different unit sizes tells you almost nothing useful.
The Form B Information Certificate is the corporation's own written disclosure, and it is the highest-value single page in the package. The strata must supply it within seven days of a request, and may charge no more than thirty-five dollars plus twenty-five cents a page for copying.
By regulation it has to state the monthly amount payable for that lot and anything the current owner still owes, any approved special levy and the deadline for paying it, the contingency reserve fund balance, the budget variance for the current fiscal year, parking stall and storage locker allocations, any court proceeding, arbitration or tribunal file involving the corporation, and any outstanding notice or work order. Since 1 April 2023 it must also carry a summary of the corporation's insurance coverage. Attached to it you should find the rules, the current budget, and the most recent depreciation report.
Read the variance line before anything else. A corporation that budgeted a figure for maintenance and has already run well past it by month eight is telling you exactly what next year's increase will be, months before the annual general meeting gets around to it.
Premiums and deductibles on strata policies across this region moved sharply over the past several years, and escaped water is overwhelmingly the reason. Two things follow from that, and neither is obvious from a listing.
The first is that a large share of what you pay every month is now an insurance line rather than a maintenance line. A building can have immaculate grounds, a healthy reserve and a fee that still climbed, purely because its policy renewed.
The second matters more to you personally. A high building deductible does not simply sit inside the budget. Where a claim originates inside your own lot, you can find yourself responsible for that deductible — a figure that can run well into five and occasionally six digits on a Metro Vancouver building. Personal condominium policies exist precisely to cover that gap, and the number is worth confirming with your broker while your subjects are still in place rather than discovering it during a claim. When I run document review for a buyer, the deductible on the insurance summary is one of the first three figures I look for.
Yes, annually in most buildings. Healthy buildings increase modestly; struggling buildings can spike.
An extra assessment beyond monthly fees when the reserve can't cover a major project. Can be tens of thousands.
For rental investors, yes against rental income. For owner-occupiers, no.
No. You can't opt out of strata ownership obligations.
I answer these kinds of questions every day. A 15-minute call usually resolves it.
Strata-related guides.
I have spent the last 47+ years living in Coquitlam, 9+ years on Burke Mountain, helping move-up buyers and sellers get from where they are to where they want to be — without the panic of owning two homes at once or selling under value. I work the Tri-Cities every day: Burke Mountain, Westwood Plateau, Heritage Mountain, and the rest of Coquitlam’s move-up neighbourhoods.
If you want a straight read on your timing, pricing, or move-up strategy, the fastest next step is a short call.
Licensed REALTOR® in Coquitlam. Tri-Cities-fluent, written-advice-first. Here's how I work any client file that lands on this page.
A five-step process built around clarity, strategy, and no-surprise execution — whether you're buying your first home or selling a property you've owned for twenty years.
We start with a real conversation about your goals, timeline, and numbers. I'll pull current comps, assess your buying power or home's true market value, and tell you exactly what the data says — not what you want to hear.
I build a written strategy around your priorities: target neighbourhoods, pricing strategy, timeline, financing structure, and the trade-offs at each decision point. Every recommendation comes with a reason.
For sellers: pre-list prep, staging direction, pro photography, and a pricing framework that draws interest without leaving money on the table. For buyers: offer structure, subject clauses, and the due-diligence checklist for every property that matters.
This is where experience pays for itself. I negotiate price, terms, subjects, deposit, completion dates, and the small details that don't show up in listings but decide whether a deal closes well or falls apart.
From subject removal through completion and possession, I coordinate with lawyers, lenders, inspectors, and trades so nothing drops. After closing, I stay in your corner for everything from tax-assessment appeals to the next move.
Strata rules, depreciation reports, and fee structures are regulated by BCFSA. Cross-reference anything a listing tells you against the authority.
External links open in a new tab. I'm not affiliated with these organizations — they are cited as independent authorities. Any time a number on this page differs from the authority, the authority wins.
Real reviews pulled from Google. No paid placements. No curated-only-positives. Every client below closed with Craig — most sold over asking, several within a week.
“Craig sold my property in just 6 days. After receiving one offer, he quickly reconnected with all the other REALTORS® who had viewed the property, and before I knew it, we had multiple offers — all over asking price. Craig didn’t stop there; he negotiated even better terms for me.”
“We worked with Craig on three real estate transactions. In all cases he was extremely professional and efficient. In the case of the two sales, both houses were sold for over asking and within the one week of going on market. Craig analyzed the market accurately and advised on a selling price that was fair and saleable.”
“Craig recently sold my townhouse in West Vancouver in less than 6 days for over asking price. Craig is one of the most prolific and highly motivated REALTORS® I have seen in the Realty business, and I have extensive experience buying and selling properties of all sorts.”
“We consider ourselves lucky to be able to work with Craig over the last 5 years, over multiple transactions. He is a professional who is guided by integrity, honesty, and punctuality. Craig is a seasoned and well-informed realtor who will be a great asset on any real estate journey.”
“As first-time home buyers, we had a myriad of concerns. Craig immediately put us at ease by taking the time to address each of our questions thoroughly and patiently. At no point did I feel pressured or rushed into making a decision. Instead, Craig empowered us with all the facts and options.”
“One of the most dedicated and professional REALTORS® I’ve encountered. No matter the value of the property, Craig puts great care into preparing high-quality marketing content. With his in-depth knowledge of the Coquitlam area, I highly recommend Craig to anyone looking to buy or sell.”
“His creativity, top-notch communication skills, and a solid plan were instrumental in selling high and buying low. His foresight in negotiation skills, predicting outcomes before they happened, truly set him apart. A remarkable professional who exceeded expectations.”
“Craig absolutely delivered on his promise of selling my condo, exceeding my expectations. A++ communications and he kept me informed and educated every single step of the way. Rock solid performance and a very quick above asking sale, I am beyond grateful.”
“We were referred to Craig by a friend and knew from day one we were in great hands. The marketing was outstanding — we received seven offers, and Craig held firm on our priorities. When we re-listed in January, it sold in three days at the price we wanted, and he went on to find us an off-market buy in Vernon.”
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