Living in a multiplex: shared walls, strata fees, meters and what to check before buying

Shared walls and floors

Every home in a multiplex shares at least one wall, floor or ceiling with a neighbour. The BC Building Code sets two things for those shared parts. The first is fire: a fire separation rated at least 45 minutes between suites, and 1 hour around a home of 2 or more storeys (Article 9.10.9.16). The second is sound: an ASTC rating of at least 47, or an STC rating of at least 50 with joined walls and floors built to the code (Article 9.11.1.1). STC and ASTC are lab and in-building measures of how much airborne sound, such as voices or music, a wall or floor blocks.

Section 9.11 of the code deals with airborne noise only. Footstep and impact noise are left to the design, which is why a buyer of a lower home in a stacked building should ask what sits under the floor above. A side-by-side home shares walls only; a stacked home shares a floor or ceiling as well.

In a strata building, the law also sets where your home ends. Section 68 of the Strata Property Act says that, unless the strata plan shows otherwise, the boundary between two strata lots separated by a wall, floor or ceiling is midway between the surfaces of the structural part that face each home. So each owner owns half the thickness of the shared wall, and the strata plan is the document to check.

Strata money and decisions in a small building

A strata corporation runs two funds. Section 92 of the Strata Property Act requires an operating fund for common expenses that come up once a year or more often, and a contingency reserve fund for expenses that come up less often than once a year or not usually at all, such as a new roof. Owners pay into both through monthly strata fees.

Section 99 shares those fees among strata lots by unit entitlement, a number for each strata lot that is set on the strata plan. Section 100 lets the owners choose a different formula, but only by a unanimous vote at a general meeting held after the first annual general meeting.

Section 72 sets who repairs what. The strata corporation must repair and maintain common property and common assets. It may, by bylaw, make an owner responsible for limited common property that the owner has the right to use, such as a private yard or a parking pad assigned to one home. Section 94.1 adds an electrical planning report, which a strata corporation must obtain from a qualified person on dates set by regulation.

A strata of 3 or 4 homes is a small group of owners making shared decisions about shared money. The small-strata-rules chapter of the ownership guide covers meetings, votes, reserve fund minimums, depreciation reports and insurance for strata corporations of 2 to 5 lots, and the Journal post on strata councils in small multiplexes covers how the owners work together.

Meters, water and sewer

BC Hydro's advisory CX-6335, revised 1 April 2025, sets out metering for buildings with several homes. For residential-only buildings, each home is served through its own BC Hydro meter and has its own account, and the common areas are served through a separate meter and account where practical. Each owner or tenant pays BC Hydro directly for their own home.

The same advisory covers electric vehicle charging. The strata corporation or building owner can ask for one separate meter and account for all charging stations in the building. An owner or occupant can ask for a separate meter for a charger at their own assigned stall, billed together with their home's account, with approval from the strata or building owner for the work.

Where a building owner passes electricity costs on to occupants through meters BC Hydro does not own, the advisory treats it as resale under section 9.1 of BC Hydro's Electric Tariff. The amount charged cannot be more than BC Hydro would have charged the tenant directly, and the owner must keep a record of the resale for 24 months.

Water and sewer service sit with the city. Section 481.4 of the Local Government Act removes the 3 to 6 unit minimums from land not connected to a water or sewer system run by a municipality or regional district. The province's policy manual asks cities to check the capacity of water, sewer and drainage systems against the new homes their zoning allows, and names water meters as one tool cities can use to manage demand. The Journal post on servicing capacity covers what this means for a single project.

Parking and outdoor space

Parking depends on the city and on transit. Section 525.2 of the Local Government Act bars a city from requiring off-street parking for the homes it must allow on a six-unit lot near frequent buses. Surrey requires 1 parking space per home for a duplex, houseplex, coach house or garden suite, with no minimum on eligible lots in a Frequent Bus Stop Area. Burnaby requires 1 space for the first home and 0.5 for each extra home outside a Frequent Transit Network Area, and none inside one. A new multiplex home may come with no parking space at all.

Outdoor space is set by the zone and the strata plan. Surrey's ground-oriented home has independent exterior access and private open space other than a balcony or deck. Burnaby's R1 district requires a minimum permeable area, meaning ground that lets water soak in, of 40 percent of the lot for 1 to 4 homes and 30 percent for 5 or 6, with half of the minimum planted. In a strata, a private yard or patio can be limited common property, set aside for one home's use on the strata plan.

Storage and bike space vary from building to building. Ask whether storage is inside the home, on common property, or assigned to the home as limited common property, and read the strata plan to confirm it.

What to check before buying a unit

A buyer can see most of the money facts before signing. Section 59 of the Strata Property Act requires a strata corporation to give an Information Certificate, which is Form B in the Strata Property Regulation, within one week of a request from an owner, a buyer, or someone either has authorized. The certificate must show the monthly strata fees, any amount the owner owes, any approved special levy still to be paid and its due date, any expected budget overrun for the current year, the contingency reserve fund balance less approved spending, bylaw amendments not yet filed at the land title office, and resolutions passed by a 3/4 or unanimous vote that still need filing, among other items.

In a new building, the first owners may buy before the strata has a history. The ownership guide's strata-ownership chapter covers the disclosure statement a developer must give buyers of new strata homes. The table below lists the checks that apply to every multiplex unit.