A phased strata plan lets a developer register one strata development in stages, over years, under a plan filed at the Land Title Office before the first building goes up. If you are buying into one, the thing to understand first is that you are joining one strata corporation, not a series of separate ones, and the parts that are not built yet are governed by a document you have probably never been shown.
Two things about this surprise almost everybody, including people who have owned in a phased building for years. If the developer says nothing by the date in its own declaration, the law treats it as having chosen to build the next phase, not to abandon it. And when the developer wants to change the plan or drop a phase, the owners do not vote on it. A government appointee called an approving officer decides.
The short version
- Every deposited phase joins the same strata corporation. Phase one’s roof becomes phase six’s bill.
- If the developer lets the election date pass in silence, section 231 of the Strata Property Act deems it to have elected to proceed. Silence is not abandonment.
- Owners get no vote on amending the declaration or on dropping a phase. They do get a 3/4 vote on any agreement that settles the money, and the developer cannot vote on that.
- A title search alone may not show that you are in a phased development. The registrar “may” note it, not “must”. The registered strata plan must carry the approving officer’s endorsement naming the phase number and the total number of phases.
- A Form B Information Certificate contains no phase item at all — so you also get no estoppel protection on phasing under section 59 (5).
- The document that tells you nearly everything is the Form P Phased Strata Plan Declaration. Get it, and diary the election dates in its paragraph 3.
- Until the final phase is deposited, the developer holds a written-consent veto over your pet bylaw, your age-restriction bylaw and the basis for sharing common expenses.
- A later-phase buyer loses several of the Part 3 developer duties a buyer in a brand-new, non-phased building keeps.
- Most phased stratas in Metro Vancouver with a pre-2024 phase of five or more lots owe an electrical planning report by 31 December 2026.
Everything below is read from the consolidated Strata Property Act and the Strata Property Regulation as they stand today, plus the Real Estate Development Marketing Act and the regulator’s own disclosure policy. Section numbers are given so you can check any of it yourself.
What a phased strata plan is, and why it is one strata corporation
Phasing is governed by Part 13 of the Strata Property Act, sections 217 to 238. Before the first phase is registered, the developer must get an approving officer’s approval of a Phased Strata Plan Declaration — the prescribed Form P — and file it with the first phase (sections 221 (1) (a) and 222 (1)).
That approval does not last forever. Section 222 (2) says the approving officer’s approval “expires after one year unless the first phase is deposited before that time.”
Each later phase is then approved separately (section 224 (1)) and deposited in the order set out in the declaration (section 221 (2)). On deposit, section 228 (1) does two things: the land in the phase “is subdivided from the rest of the parcel or parcels” and consolidated with the earlier strata plan, and the new strata corporation “is amalgamated with the strata corporation established by the deposit of the strata plan for the first phase.”
So there is one strata corporation, one contingency reserve fund and one set of bylaws for the whole development, however many years separate phase one from the last phase. That is the single most important consequence of phasing, and it is why a buyer in a shiny new phase inherits the repair history of buildings that went up a decade earlier.
Part 13 also outranks the rest of the Act. Section 218 (2): “If there is a conflict between a provision of this Part and a provision of another Part, the provision of this Part prevails.”
If the developer goes quiet, the phase is not abandoned
This is the part that runs opposite to intuition. Section 231 reads:
On the date contained in the Phased Strata Plan Declaration for the election to proceed with a phase, the owner developer is conclusively deemed to have elected to proceed with that phase as set out in the declaration unless (a) an amendment to the declaration has been approved in accordance with section 232 or 233, or (b) an election not to proceed has been made and filed under section 235.
Read it twice. Doing nothing does not release the developer. It fixes its position as having chosen to build.
Be careful what you take from that, though. Section 231 does not order anyone to build anything and attaches no penalty. What it does is keep the strata corporation’s remedies alive — and keep the developer’s expense contributions under section 227 running.
If the developer then sits on its hands, section 236 (1) lets the strata corporation — not an individual owner — ask the BC Supreme Court to order the phase completed by a set date, where the court is satisfied the developer has not proceeded “within a reasonable time after the date stated in the Phased Strata Plan Declaration or an amended declaration, or at a reasonable speed.”
And here is the sting in the tail nobody mentions. Section 236 (2): if the developer ignores that court order, “the court may declare that the owner developer be deemed to have elected not to proceed.” The chain that began with a deemed commitment to build can end in a deemed release — after the strata corporation has paid for a Supreme Court action to get there.
Who decides whether a phase changes or disappears
Not the owners. Three separate routes all end at an approving officer.
- Extending the election date (section 232). The developer applies to an approving officer. Section 232 (2) caps it: not “more than once, or for more than one year from the date stated in the declaration”, except under a court order. Section 232 (3) lets the Supreme Court order the approving officer to grant it anyway.
- Any other amendment to the declaration (section 233). Again, an application to an approving officer.
- Electing not to proceed (section 235). The developer gives written notice to the strata corporation and the approving officer, and files the notice with the registrar together with a reference plan of the remainder parcel.
On the first two routes the strata corporation gets a hearing of sorts. Section 234 (2): “The strata corporation has 30 days from receipt of the notice referred to in subsection (1) to make written representations to the approving officer.” It may waive even that (section 234 (3)). The officer then “may approve the extension or amendment with or without changes or may refuse to approve” it (section 234 (4)).
Note carefully what section 234 covers. Subsection (1) requires notice of “an application under section 232 or 233” — those two only. On an election not to proceed, the thing buyers actually worry about, there is no 30-day representation right at all. The strata corporation gets notice and nothing more.
What the owners do have, after the fact, is the courts. Section 235 (5) lets the strata corporation ask the Supreme Court to determine whether the election not to proceed “is unfair to the strata corporation”, and section 235 (6) lets the court order the developer to complete whatever common facilities the court considers equitable, or order security paid out, or both. Section 233 (5) and (6) do the same job for an amendment that is “a significant and unfair alteration”.
There is a deadline on one of those. A section 235 (3) application must be made “within 2 years of the receipt of notice under subsection (1) (a)”.
| Decision | Who decides | What owners get | Section |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approving the declaration before phase one | Approving officer | Nothing — it predates them | 222 (1) |
| Approving each phase for deposit | Approving officer, and he “must approve” if it substantially complies | Nothing | 224 (2) |
| Extending the election date | Approving officer (court on appeal) | 30 days of written representations | 232, 234 (2) |
| Any other amendment to the declaration | Approving officer | 30 days of written representations | 233, 234 (2) |
| Dropping a phase | The developer alone | Notice only. No representations. | 235 (1) |
| Releasing the common-facility security | Agreement plus a 3/4 vote | A vote, developer disenfranchised | 226 (1) (b), (2) |
| Settling the money after a cut to unit entitlement | Agreement plus a 3/4 vote | A vote, developer disenfranchised | 233 (7) |
| Settling the money after a dropped phase | Agreement plus a 3/4 vote | A vote, developer disenfranchised | 235 (7) |
| Forcing a stalled phase to completion | BC Supreme Court | Strata corporation may apply; an individual owner may not | 236 (1) |
| Unfinished common facility past its deadline | BC Supreme Court | Strata corporation or an owner may apply | 226 (5) |
So “owners have no say” is too blunt. The accurate version: owners get no vote on whether the plan changes or a phase is dropped, but they do get a 3/4 vote on any agreement that settles the money consequences, and on that vote the developer “is not an eligible voter” (sections 226 (2), 233 (7), 235 (7)).
The money: unit entitlement is locked, and the developer pays a share
Unit entitlement is the number that decides your strata fees. Section 221 (3) requires that the unit entitlement of strata lots “in all of the phases must be calculated in accordance with section 246 using the same basis for calculations for all of the phases.” You cannot have phase one on one formula and phase five on another.
While phases remain undeposited, the developer has to help pay for the shared facilities. Section 227 (1): “Subject to sections 233 (2) and 235 (3), until all phases of a phased strata plan have been deposited, the owner developer must contribute to the expenses of the strata corporation that are attributable to the common facilities.” Section 227 (3) values the unbuilt phases at the unit entitlement “as set out in the Phased Strata Plan Declaration” — another reason the declaration matters.
I am not going to print the contribution formula. Section 227 (2) is published as an image in the online consolidation, with no text alternative, so it cannot be read reliably from the HTML version. If the number matters to your purchase, your lawyer or notary should work it off the consolidated PDF.
Section 233 (2) is where a developer tries to shrink that bill, by amending the declaration to reduce a later phase’s unit entitlement. The approving officer then “may require the owner developer to contribute to the expenses … as if the unit entitlement in the subsequent phase had not been reduced.” May, not must.
“Common facility” is much narrower than it sounds
Section 227 only reaches expenses “attributable to the common facilities”, and section 217 defines that term for Part 13 only:
In this Part, “common facility” means a major facility in a phased strata plan, including a laundry room, playground, swimming pool, recreation centre, clubhouse or tennis court, if the facility is available for the use of the owners.
A major facility, available to the owners. The British Columbia Real Estate Association’s Legally Speaking #454, written by Mike Mangan and dated 1 May 2012, describes a case where the Court of Appeal found that “the elevators were not common facilities because they were not optional. Instead, the elevators were a standard means of access, similar to a hallway or stairs.”
The same article records that the strata corporation lost on its laundry claim too: “The court rejected the strata corporation’s claim, however, because it could not prove that the particular expenses were clearly attributable to the laundry facilities.” The case is cited there as Strata Plan NES 97 v. Timberline Developments Ltd., 2011 BCCA 421, affirming 2010 BCSC 1811. I have cited it by citation only, from that published summary — BC court judgments are not reachable from here, so nobody at this end has read the judgment itself, and I am not going to quote reasoning I have not seen.
Two lessons for a buyer. Hallways, lobbies, stairs, roads and elevators are unlikely to be common facilities. And even where a facility qualifies, the strata corporation carries a real burden of proving which expenses are attributable to it. The article’s own closing advice is modest and worth taking: “In a development where the last phase is not yet filed, it is a good idea to ask if there are any common facilities, and if so, whether the developer contributes to their upkeep.”
Is there security posted for the pool that is not built yet?
Where common facilities are to be built in a later phase or on a separate parcel, section 223 (1) says an approving officer “may only approve the Phased Strata Plan Declaration if the owner developer” posts a bond, an irrevocable letter of credit or other security sufficient “to cover the full cost of constructing the common facility, including the cost of the land” — or makes “other arrangements, satisfactory to the approving officer, to ensure the completion of the common facility.”
That second limb is doing a lot of quiet work, and the regulator’s own disclosure policy nods at it. Where the security does exist, section 223 (2) says it “must be drawn in favour of, and must be held by” the municipality in which the land is located, or the regional district where the land is not in a municipality.
Security is not released casually. Section 226 (3): it “must not be released unless one of the requirements in subsection (1) of this section has been met” — substantial completion certified by an architect or engineer, an agreement approved by a 3/4 vote, or a court order. And section 225 (2) (b) lets a phase be approved where the common facility is merely “at least 50% completed, as verified by the certificate of a registered architect or professional engineer.” Half a clubhouse is enough to register the phase.
Section 226 (5) is the one lever an individual owner holds. If a common facility “is not substantially completed within the time for completion set out in the Phased Strata Plan Declaration”, the strata corporation or an owner may apply to the Supreme Court for completion, or for the security to be paid out, or both. Note again that this depends on a date written in the declaration.
A title search may not show phasing. The strata plan must
Here is a trap that catches careful people. Section 221 (4):
On the deposit of any phase of a phased strata plan other than the final phase, the registrar may make a notation of the Phased Strata Plan Declaration on the title to every strata lot created by the plan and on the title to the remainder parcel.
May. Not must. And section 221 (5) is permissive in the same way: on deposit of the final phase the registrar “may remove the notations”. Compare section 235 (2), in the same Part, which says that on an election not to proceed the registrar “must remove” the notation. The legislature used “must” where it meant must.
So the notation is unreliable in both directions. Its absence does not prove the development is finished or was never phased; its presence does not prove the development is unfinished. I looked for something that makes it mandatory in practice — Part 14 of the Act, which governs land titles, and the Strata Property Regulation. Part 14 does not contain the word “notation” anywhere. I could find no provision or published practice requiring the notation. That is a “could not find”, not a “there is none”.
What is mandatory is the endorsement on the registered strata plan. Section 244 (1) (h) requires a strata plan to “be endorsed by an approving officer … if it is a phased strata plan, under sections 224 and 225”. Regulation section 14.5 (1) says that approval “must be in Form Q”. And Form Q itself reads: “Approved as Phase [number of phase] of a [total number of phases] phase strata plan under section 224 of the Strata Property Act.”
Every deposited phase must therefore carry, on the face of the registered strata plan, an endorsement naming its phase number and how many phases were contemplated. The registered strata plan is an ordinary Land Title and Survey Authority search product. Pull it. The practical rule is: a title search alone is not enough; order the strata plan and the Form P declaration.
One limitation to keep in mind. Form Q records how many phases were contemplated when that phase was approved. It does not tell you whether later phases went ahead, were amended under sections 232 or 233, or were dropped under section 235. Only the declaration — and any amended declaration deposited under section 234 (5) — tells you that.
The Form B will not tell you, and that is worse than it sounds
The Form B Information Certificate is the document buyers and their lawyers rely on for the state of a strata corporation. I read the prescribed Form B in the Strata Property Regulation in full, items (a) through (p) plus its Required Attachments. The word “phase” does not appear in it once. Nor does it appear anywhere in section 59 of the Act, which sets out what the certificate must contain. The Province’s own Form B: Information Certificate page, which carries a publication date of 1 September 2026, does not mention phasing either.
Now the consequence, which is the part that matters. Section 59 (5):
The information in subsection (3) disclosed in a certificate is binding on the strata corporation in its dealings with a person who relied on the certificate and acted reasonably in doing so.
That binding effect attaches to the subsection (3) information. Phasing is not subsection (3) information. So if a Form B is silent about phasing, or leaves you with the wrong impression about it, you have no estoppel to fall back on. The risk sits with you.
Two corrections to things people commonly assume. The bylaws are not a Form B attachment — section 59 (4) attaches the rules, the current budget and the most recent depreciation report, and item (g) merely asks whether there are unfiled bylaw amendments. The strata plan is not attached either. If you want the bylaws or the plan, ask for them separately.
That said, a careful reader can often spot phasing in the Form B package indirectly:
| Where to look | What would hint at phasing |
|---|---|
| The attached current budget | A developer contribution towards common-facility expenses has to appear somewhere in the income the budget itemises by source |
| Form B item (p) | Asks whether the strata has obtained electrical planning reports. A phased corporation’s report is limited to specified phases by Regulation 5.12, so an attached report will name them |
| Form B items (m) and (n) | Parking stalls or lockers recorded as “allocated by owner developer assignment” point at a development that is not finished |
| Form B items (h) and (i) | A section 226 (1) (b), 233 (7) or 235 (7) agreement needs a 3/4 vote, so it should surface as a passed or noticed resolution |
| Form B item (j) | Asks about court, arbitration and tribunal proceedings. A section 226 (5), 233, 235 or 236 application would show here |
Form P is the document that actually answers your questions
The Phased Strata Plan Declaration is prescribed as Form P in the Strata Property Regulation, and it is filed at the Land Title Office with the first phase. Its paragraph 2 requires the developer to set out the plan of development. Here is what that means, in the form’s own words.
| Form P, paragraph 2 | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| (a) “a schedule setting out the number of phases in the order in which the phases will be deposited and specifying any common facility to be constructed in conjunction with a particular phase” | How many phases, in what order, and which phase is supposed to deliver the pool |
| (b) “a sketch plan showing” all the land, “the present parcel boundaries”, “the approximate boundaries of each phase”, and “the approximate location of the common facilities” | Where the unbuilt buildings are going — including whether one lands in front of your window |
| (c) “a schedule setting out the estimated date for the beginning of construction and completion of construction of each phase” | The construction-start dates that control the developer’s bylaw veto under Regulation 13.3 |
| (d) “a statement of the unit entitlement of each phase and the total unit entitlement of the completed development” | How your strata fees will be diluted, or not, as phases arrive |
| (e) “a statement of the maximum number of units and general type of residence or other structure to be built in each phase” | Whether phase five is six townhouses or a sixty-unit tower |
Then paragraph 3 of the form, which is the one to write in your calendar: “I will elect to proceed with each phase on or by the following dates”, followed by a line for each phase number and a date.
Those dates drive section 231’s deemed election, the section 232 extension cap, the section 235 deadline for electing not to proceed, and the developer’s veto under Regulation 13.3. If you take one action from this article, make it this one: get the Form P and any amended declaration, and diary the paragraph 3 dates.
The developer’s veto over your pet and age bylaws
Two provisions of the Strata Property Regulation work together here, and almost nothing written for buyers mentions either.
First, Regulation 13.2: where a later phase is deposited, “the bylaws of the strata corporation established by the deposit of the first phase, and any amendments to those bylaws, are the bylaws for the new phase.” You inherit phase one’s rulebook. There is no fresh start.
Second, Regulation 13.3 freezes parts of that rulebook. Subsection (2) says that while the developer “is in compliance with the dates for the beginning of construction of each phase” set out in the declaration, the strata corporation “may not create, change, repeal, replace, add to or otherwise amend any bylaws” dealing with certain matters until the annual general meeting following the final phase, or an election not to proceed, “unless the strata corporation obtains the written consent of the owner developer.”
| Frozen by Regulation 13.3 | Reference | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Changing the basis for sharing common expenses (a section 100 resolution) | 13.3 (1) | Frozen |
| Bylaws on “the keeping or securing of pets” | 13.3 (2) (a) | Frozen |
| Bylaws restricting rentals | 13.3 (2) (b) | Repealed — B.C. Reg. 6/2023, section 3 |
| Bylaws on “the age of occupants” | 13.3 (2) (c) | Frozen |
| Bylaws on “the marketing activities of the owner developer which relate to the sale of strata lots in the strata plan” | 13.3 (2) (d) | Frozen |
Two things worth noticing. The rental item was repealed in 2023, so do not let anyone tell you a phased strata cannot pass a rental bylaw on that basis. And the whole veto is conditional: it applies only while the developer is in compliance with the construction-start dates in the declaration. A developer behind its own schedule loses the veto. That is checkable, against the Form P dates, and it is a reasonable thing to ask the strata manager about before you remove subjects.
Related, and easy to miss: Regulation 13.6 lets a developer designate parking stalls as limited common property in a phase “only up to the date of the annual general meeting required by the deposit of that phase under section 230 of the Act.” If you are buying with a stall you were told comes with the unit, find out which basis it sits on and whether that window has closed.
What a later-phase buyer loses that a new-build buyer keeps
Part 3 of the Strata Property Act is the set of duties a developer owes a brand-new strata corporation during the interim period. Regulation 13.4 (2) switches most of it off for later phases: “The requirements of Part 3 of the Act do not apply to a phase other than the first phase of a phased strata plan except as set out in this section.”
It matters which subsection of 13.4 applies to you, and this is where other explanations go wrong.
- If the first annual general meeting has not yet been held when the new phase deposits, Regulation 13.4 (3) applies all of Part 3 to the new phase, with mechanical adjustments. Nothing is lost.
- If the first annual general meeting has been held, Regulation 13.4 (4) applies a named list.
- If the strata corporation has approved a budget at an annual general meeting before the new phase deposits — which is true of any established strata — Regulation 13.4 (5) governs, because 13.4 (4) is expressly “subject to subsection (5)”. Its list is shorter: sections 6 (2), 12, 13, 14 (1) to (3) and (6) to (8), 20 (2) (a) and (3), 22 (b) and 23.
Compare 13.4 (4) with 13.4 (5) and you can see exactly what falls away in the real-world case: section 18 disappears entirely, and section 14 is narrowed so that subsections (4) and (5) drop out.
That pair matters more than it looks. Section 14 (4) is the developer’s top-up where the strata’s actual accrued expenses exceed its interim-budget estimate — it “must pay the difference to the strata corporation within 8 weeks after the first annual general meeting.” Section 18 is the collection hook: “Amounts payable by the owner developer under sections 14 (4) and (5) and 17 (b) are money owing to the strata corporation, and sections 112 to 118 apply.” Lose both and the under-budgeting top-up has neither a duty nor a lien behind it.
| Part 3 duty | What it does | Later phase (Reg 13.4 (5)) |
|---|---|---|
| s. 6 (2) | Developer must “make reasonable efforts to pursue any remedies under warranties” on common property | Kept |
| s. 7 | Developer pays the strata’s actual expenses to the end of the month of first conveyance | Lost |
| s. 10 | Bars developer self-dealing contracts before the first AGM without a unanimous vote | Lost |
| s. 12 | Developer pays into the contingency reserve fund | Kept (paid into the existing fund, not a new one) |
| s. 13 | Interim budget | Kept, recalculated for the 12 months after the phase deposits |
| s. 14 (4), (5) | Developer tops up where accrued expenses beat the interim budget | Lost |
| s. 15 | Developer must keep the strata’s insurance running “at least 4 weeks after the first annual general meeting” | Lost |
| s. 17 | If the developer skips the first AGM, an owner may call it and the developer pays an amount set by regulation | Lost — section 230 has no equivalent backstop or penalty |
| s. 18 | Makes the section 14 (4), (5) and 17 (b) amounts collectible as money owing | Lost |
| s. 20 (2) (a) | The document hand-over: permit plans, as-built service locations, contracts, the disclosure statement, the registered strata plan, the contractor list, all warranties and manuals, the strata’s records | Kept — owed afresh at every phase’s AGM |
| s. 22 (b) | Keys, codes and access devices | Kept |
| s. 23 | Two years of access to the developer’s financial records for the strata | Kept |
| s. 24 | Ends a developer-signed strata management contract shortly after the second AGM | Lost |
Be fair about the other side of this, because some of what “falls away” was never going to help you. Sections 5, 8 and 11 are developer powers — running the council and passing resolutions before the first AGM. A buyer in phase four arrives into a corporation that already has an elected council, so those powers were never going to be exercised over them. Their disapplication is not a loss.
And the first annual general meeting is not simply lost. Section 230 requires an annual general meeting for every subsequent phase, in the six-week period starting on the earlier of the date “50% plus one of the strata lots in the new phase have been conveyed to purchasers” and the date six months after deposit. Regulation 13.5 then adds two council seats reserved to owners in the new phase, holding office until the next annual general meeting, with any bylaw cap on council size “deemed to be increased temporarily”. New-phase owners get representation on council, by right.
The honest summary: a later-phase buyer keeps the valuable document hand-over and the contingency-fund and budget duties, gets a meeting it is entitled to by statute and two council seats, and loses the financial backstops — the expense top-up, its lien, the insurance run-off, the skipped-meeting penalty and the management-contract cut-off.
Buying a presale in a later phase: ask for the master disclosure statement
If you are buying from the developer rather than from an owner, the Real Estate Development Marketing Act applies, and BC Financial Services Authority Policy Statement 1, effective 24 November 2022, sets out what the disclosure statement must say. Its section 2.3, headed “Phasing”, requires a developer to:
State whether the strata lots will be constructed in phases. If the development property is phased, describe the phasing aspects of the offering, including the total number of potential strata lots in the development property, the number of phases, the number of strata lots in each phase, and the phase or phases the developer is currently marketing. Caution purchasers that the developer is entitled not to proceed with subsequent phases. State whether the phasing has been approved by the appropriate approving officer and attach a Form P, Phased Strata Plan Declaration, as an Exhibit.
That is the regulator telling developers, in its own words, to warn you that the later phases may never be built. It also says that where there will be common facilities in future phases, the statement must “describe those facilities and the security arrangements, if any, for their construction.” Those three words — “if any” — are the whole point of the earlier section on security.
Now the provision worth knowing about. Section 15.1 of the Act lets a developer in a phased project file a phase disclosure statement for a single phase. Both limbs of section 15.1 (1) are permissive — the developer “may” file one and “may” provide it to a new purchaser. Where it does, section 15.1 (3) says the developer “need not provide to the new purchaser” the first disclosure statement filed for the development property, any amendment filed before or with the phase statement, any consolidated statements for other phases, or any other phase’s statements.
In plain terms: you can be handed the document for your phase and not the master document for the development you are joining. A phase disclosure statement is required to say so on its cover, in conspicuous type: “This is a Phase Disclosure Statement filed pursuant to the Real Estate Development Marketing Act.”
But you can ask, and the answer has to be yes. Section 15.1 (4): a new purchaser who receives a phase disclosure statement “may request in writing a copy of a disclosure statement referred to in subsection (3) (a), (b), (c) or (d), and the developer must provide to the new purchaser, without charge, a copy of the disclosure statement no later than 30 days after receipt of the request.”
Put the request in writing, keep the date, and note that 30 days is longer than most subject-removal periods. Ask early.
Buying a resale unit in a phased strata: you are the least protected buyer
This is the group nobody writes for, and it is the largest one. If you buy a phase-one unit from a private owner six years after it was built, while phases four to seven are still unbuilt, look at what you do not get:
- No disclosure statement. The Real Estate Development Marketing Act binds a developer marketing development units. A private seller is not a developer, so none of Policy Statement 1 reaches you — including the mandatory caution that later phases may not be built.
- No rescission right. Section 21 (1) (a) of that Act says a purchaser has no right of rescission under that section “if the purchaser is not entitled to receive a disclosure statement under this Act.”
- No phase item on the Form B, as set out above.
- No estoppel on phasing under section 59 (5), because phasing is not section 59 (3) information.
Nothing in the statutory scheme puts the phasing question in front of a resale buyer. You have to go and find it. That means ordering the registered strata plan and reading the Form Q endorsement, ordering the Form P declaration and any amendment, and reading the attached budget for a developer contribution.
A last wrinkle on who you are actually dealing with. Section 220: “If an owner developer transfers the owner developer’s interest in land described in a Phased Strata Plan Declaration, the owner developer’s rights and responsibilities under the declaration and this Act transfer to the new owner developer.” The company that built your phase may not be the company that holds the unbuilt land now.
The electrical planning report: 31 December 2026 for most phased stratas here
Section 94.1 of the Act requires a strata corporation to obtain an electrical planning report from a qualified person “on or before the dates determined in accordance with the regulations”. Phased stratas have their own deadline section, and it is not the one most people quote.
Regulation 5.8 (1) switches the ordinary deadline section off for phased plans entirely: “This section does not apply to a strata corporation if the strata plan is a phased strata plan.” Regulation 5.9 (1) is its mirror: “This section does not apply to a strata corporation unless the strata plan is a phased strata plan.”
| Situation | Deadline | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Phased, established on or before 31 December 2023, phases deposited by then include at least one with 5 or more lots, land wholly or partly in a specified area | 31 December 2026 | 5.9 (2) (a) (i) |
| Same, but land wholly outside a specified area | 31 December 2028 | 5.9 (2) (a) (ii) |
| Phased, each phase of 5 or more lots deposited after 31 December 2023 | 5 years after that phase’s deposit | 5.9 (2) (b), 5.9 (3) |
| Phased, every phase has fewer than 5 lots | May defer until 5 years after the final phase deposits | 5.9 (4) |
| Not phased, fewer than 5 lots | No report required at all | 5.8 (3), 5.8 (5) |
| Depreciation report, any strata | Not required “if and for so long as there are fewer than 5 strata lots in the strata plan” | Regulation 6.22 |
Regulation 5.7 defines a “specified area” as the Capital Regional District, the Fraser Valley Regional District, or “the Metro Vancouver Regional District, other than an island that is accessible only by air or boat”. North Vancouver, West Vancouver and the rest of the North Shore are in the Metro Vancouver Regional District, so 31 December 2026 is the live date for a phased strata here that meets the other conditions. It is weeks away.
Four details that get dropped elsewhere. The geographic test is “wholly or partly” — one corner inside the specified area pulls the whole corporation to 2026. The subsection applies to an “existing strata corporation”, which Regulation 5.7 defines as one established on or before 31 December 2023. The section says a report is owed “on or before each of the following dates”, so paragraphs (a) and (b) can both bite and this can be a repeating obligation. And the small-plan relief in 5.9 (4) is a postponement, not the permanent exemption a small non-phased plan gets under 5.8 (3) and 5.8 (5) — which 5.9 (1) and 5.8 (1) together put out of reach of any phased plan.
There is also a gap in 5.9 (4) that I have not seen anyone point out. Its clock runs from “the date of deposit of the final phase”. If the final phase is never deposited — dropped under section 235, or deemed dropped under section 236 (2) — that date never arrives, and I could find nothing in the regulation supplying a fallback.
What happens if a strata misses the date? On the face of the legislation, nothing directly. Section 94.1 is three subsections long and contains no offence, fine or penalty, and I found no enforcement provision attached to it. The practical consequences are real enough, though: Form B item (p) has to answer “no”, which every prospective buyer and lender sees. And missing the deadline buys the strata no time on electric-vehicle charging requests — Regulation 5.4 (a) opens an owner’s right to make one on the earlier of the date the report is actually obtained and “the date on or before which the strata corporation is required to obtain an electrical planning report for the first time.”
If a phase is dropped, what happens to the land next door
Part 13 never says in so many words who owns the undeveloped land. It calls it “the remainder parcel” and leaves it there. But the answer is plain enough from four provisions read together: section 221 (4) refers to “the title to the remainder parcel”, so it has its own title; section 228 (1) (a) carves each phase out of “the rest of the parcel or parcels”, leaving the balance where it was; section 235 (1) (b) makes the developer file a reference plan of the remainder parcel, which only an owner could do; and section 237 governs what may be built there afterwards.
Section 237 (1) is the one to care about. Where the developer elects not to proceed, land that would have been part of the subsequent phase “may only be developed in accordance with the applicable municipal or regional district bylaws” — and other local laws where they apply — “relating to that parcel as a separate parcel.” Section 237 (2) lets the approving authority instead treat the development as part of the phased development rather than a separate parcel.
So the realistic outcome of a dropped phase is not an empty lawn. It is a free-standing development site next to your building, in someone’s hands, developable under ordinary zoning. If you are buying a unit whose view or quiet depends on a later phase being built as drawn, that is the risk, and the Form P sketch plan is where you see where it would sit.
There is no phase-specific way to unwind a strata
A reasonable question from an owner left holding an oversized clubhouse for a development half its planned size: can we undo this? Part 13 offers nothing. It has no reversion mechanism and no way to separate a phase back out.
What applies instead are the ordinary winding-up routes in Part 16, which reach a phased strata like any other under section 218 (1). Part 16 does not mention phasing at all — the routes are generic:
- An 80% vote to cancel the strata plan and become tenants in common (section 272 (1)), or to cancel and appoint a liquidator (section 277 (1)). Where the plan has five or more strata lots, the strata must then apply to the Supreme Court within 60 days to confirm the resolution (section 273.1 (1)).
- A court-ordered winding up under section 284. “An owner, a mortgagee of a strata lot or any other person the Supreme Court considers appropriate” may apply, and the court must consider the best interests of the owners and the probability and extent of “significant unfairness” to owners, chargeholders or creditors, and of “significant confusion and uncertainty in the affairs of the strata corporation”.
Section 284 is the one that fits an abandoned-phase scenario, and note that a single owner can start it. That is a real route, and it is wrong to tell owners there is none. It is also a long and expensive one, and nothing about it is specific to phasing.
A short list to work through before you remove subjects
- Order the registered strata plan and read the Form Q endorsement: which phase, out of how many.
- Order the Form P declaration and any amended declaration. Read paragraph 2 (a) to (e) and diary the paragraph 3 election dates.
- Ask whether all phases have been deposited. If not, ask which, and compare against the Form P order.
- Ask whether there are common facilities in an undeposited phase, whether security was posted under section 223, and whether it has been released.
- Read the budget attached to the Form B for a developer contribution to common-facility expenses.
- Check Form B item (p): has an electrical planning report been obtained, and which phases does it cover?
- Ask whether the developer is in compliance with the construction-start dates in the declaration. If not, its bylaw veto under Regulation 13.3 has lapsed.
- If you are buying a presale in a later phase, ask in writing for the master disclosure statement under section 15.1 (4), and allow for the 30 days.
- Check the minutes for any section 226, 233, 235 or 236 proceeding, and Form B items (h), (i) and (j).
- Take the strata plan, the declaration and the Form B package to a BC lawyer or notary who does strata conveyancing, and ask them specifically about the phasing.
What I could not confirm
Printing this is more useful than pretending otherwise.
- The section 227 (2) contribution formula. Published as an image with no text alternative in the online consolidation. I have not stated it and nobody should quote it from the HTML version.
- Whether the section 221 (4) title notation is mandatory in practice. I found no provision or published practice requiring it, and Part 14 of the Act never uses the word “notation”. That is a “could not find”, not a “there is none”.
- The Timberline judgment. BC court judgments are not reachable from here. The case is cited by citation only, from a published professional summary, and the reasoning in it has not been read at this end.
- Tribunal decisions on a dropped phase. I could find no Civil Resolution Tribunal decision on an abandoned phase or on a developer’s section 227 contribution. Sections 233, 235 and 236 route these disputes to the Supreme Court, which is the likeliest reason.
- Provincial consumer guidance on phasing. I could not find any. The Province’s strata pages, including the Form B page, do not use the word “phase”.
- The amendment history of Part 13. The online consolidation prints repeal notes but not amendment notes, so the absence of notes proves nothing about how current the drafting is.
Everything else above was read on 3 November 2026 in the official consolidations at BC Laws, each of which printed “current to October 27, 2026”, and checked a second time in a separate pass.
Who to call
Approving officers sit with the local government, so the approval history of a phase is a municipal question. For a property in the District of North Vancouver, planning enquiries route through 604-990-2480, or planning@dnv.org, at District Hall, 355 West Queens Road, V7N 4N5. For the City of North Vancouver, the switchboard is 604-985-7761 and planning is 604-983-7357 or planning@cnv.org, at 141 West 14th Street, V7M 1H9. For West Vancouver, Planning is 604-925-7055 at Municipal Hall, 750 17th Street, V7V 3T3. Anything municipal can change, so confirm it with the city or district that owns the answer rather than relying on this page.
Thinking about buying or selling on the North Shore?
Leave your name and number and I will come back to you, usually the same day. Tell me the address if you have one and I will pull the sale history and the documents that matter before we talk. No charge, no obligation.
Prefer to talk now? Call or text 778-903-7306.
Read next
- The strata electrical planning report, and the deadline behind it
- What a Form B Information Certificate tells you, and what it leaves out
- The strata depreciation report: what to look for before you buy
- Buying a presale on the North Shore, and what an assignment really costs
- Buying into a strata that might be wound up
- A building scheme on your title, and what it stops you doing
All of the guides are listed at tomjahed.ca/guides. This article is also available in Farsi: خرید واحد در یک پلان استراتای مرحلهای در بریتیش کلمبیا.
Tom Jahed, REALTOR®
Vanak Realty, North Vancouver. Ten years in North Vancouver real estate and more than 400 transactions closed, including pre-sales. Works in English and Farsi.
General information only, and not advice about a specific property, a specific strata corporation or a specific declaration. Every phased development turns on its own Phased Strata Plan Declaration, and the rules, dates and figures above change. Verify anything that matters with the authority that owns it — the Land Title and Survey Authority for the strata plan and the declaration, the municipality for approving-officer and permit questions, BC Laws for the current text of the Act and Regulation — and take advice from a BC lawyer or notary before you act. Statutes and regulations verified 3 November 2026 against the consolidations at BC Laws, each printing “current to October 27, 2026”. Last reviewed November 2026.
Written by Tom Jahed, licensed REALTOR®, Vanak Realty, North Vancouver.