BC Condo Classroom Launched
We are pleased to share some genuinely good news for strata communities across the province. The Condominium Home Owners Association of BC (CHOA), in partnership with BC Housing and the Province of British Columbia, has launched the BC Condo Classroom — a free, online educational resource built specifically for strata councils, owners, and the professionals who serve them.
The Condo Classroom launches with its first ten learning modules, with a planned library of approximately fifty covering the most common issues affecting strata corporations in BC. The modules were developed over two years of consultation and collaboration, each supported by companion reference materials, and users can work through them at their own pace. Early topics include how strata corporations are created, how to read a strata plan, the responsibilities of council members, and the essential operations of small strata corporations — foundational material that, in our experience, far too many council members have never had a practical way to learn.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
Regular readers of our blog will know we have written at length about the increasing complexity of strata management. That complexity is not hypothetical — it is the defining trend of the past decade in our industry, and it shows no signs of slowing. Consider what has been asked of strata corporations in recent years. Building practices and standards continue to evolve, bringing new envelope systems, mechanical technologies, and maintenance regimes that councils are expected to understand and fund. At the same time, more and more responsibility has been downloaded from senior levels of government onto strata corporations themselves: mandatory depreciation reports, insurance disclosure obligations, electric vehicle charging infrastructure requirements, changing rental and age-restriction rules, and evolving expectations around building safety and emergency preparedness.
Each of these, individually, is manageable. Collectively, they have transformed what it means to sit on a strata council.
The result is something we have said before and will keep saying: strata corporations are becoming much more like small businesses, or rather even more like small town governments. They carry multi-million-dollar budgets, employ contractors, manage significant insurance programs, plan capital projects decades into the future, and operate within an increasingly dense web of legislation and regulation. Running a a bureaucracy well requires expertise — and volunteer council members, however capable and well-intentioned, are being asked to bring more of it to the table every year.
Education and the Division of Responsibility
We are firm believers in education. An informed council is a better council — better at asking the right questions, better at understanding the advice it receives, and better at making sound decisions on behalf of its owners. That is exactly why this initiative is so welcome, and why the involvement of the provincial government and BC Housing matters. When responsibilities are downloaded onto strata corporations, it is only right that government invests in equipping the volunteers who must carry them. We encourage more of this type of action. But we are equally firm believers in the division of responsibility between layperson councils and professional property managers. Education does not — and should not — turn volunteer council members into strata managers, accountants, or insurance specialists. Rather, it equips councils to do their part of the job well: setting direction, exercising judgment, and providing oversight, while relying on qualified professionals for the specialized knowledge and day-to-day execution that modern strata governance demands.
This is precisely where our expertise fits, and frankly, why it has never been more important. A well-educated council paired with an experienced professional management team is the strongest governance model a strata corporation can have. Each side of that partnership makes the other better.
Government-supported education like the BC Condo Classroom strengthens the council side of the equation — and we are all for it.
Our Recommendation
If you sit on a strata council — or are thinking about standing for election — take a look at the BC Condo Classroom. It is free, it is BC-specific, it is practical, and new modules will continue to be added over time. With an estimated 1.5 million British Columbians living in strata housing, resources like this are long overdue, and CHOA, BC Housing, and the province deserve credit for delivering it. And as always, if your council has questions about how any of these topics apply to your building specifically, please reach out to your property manager. Education gives you the framework; we're here to help you apply it.