What a special levy actually costs per door
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Across 2,000+ samples drawn from our pool of BC strata reviews, the typical approved levy works out to about $1,000 per unit. The purpose of the levy moves that number by a factor of ten, and one vote in four never passes at all.
Nobody budgets for a special levy, which is more or less the point of them. When the contingency reserve fund cannot cover a roof, a repipe or a lawyer, the strata votes on a one-time charge and splits it by unit entitlement. We pulled the levy votes from the council and general-meeting minutes in 2,000+ samples drawn from our pool of BC strata reviews, most of them from 2023 onward, and asked the question buyers actually have: what does this cost per door?
~$1,000 | 1 in 4 | ~$250K |
|---|---|---|
median approved levy per unit, all purposes | recorded levy votes defeated, 2023–2026 | median approved roof or repipe levy, whole building |
Roofs and pipes cost the most per door
| Category | p25 | Median | p75 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roof | $983 | $2,917 | $8,290 |
| Piping | $608 | $2,646 | $7,606 |
| Envelope | $961 | $2,129 | $4,632 |
| Elevators | $761 | $1,737 | $5,207 |
| Windows | $554 | $1,429 | $5,172 |
| Structural | $700 | $1,250 | $4,819 |
| CRF top-up | $506 | $1,052 | $2,000 |
| Parking | $335 | $969 | $2,179 |
| Mechanical | $434 | $923 | $2,096 |
| Electrical | $163 | $662 | $1,250 |
| Common areas | $295 | $595 | $1,344 |
| General | $258 | $489 | $979 |
| Security | $107 | $201 | $364 |
Roof and piping levies lead at a median of roughly $2,900 and $2,600 per unit, and the middle half of buildings paid anywhere from about $600 to $8,000 a door. Building-envelope work, the classic Lower Mainland levy, sits at about $2,100 per unit but is the most common purpose by count: nearly one approved levy in five is for the envelope. Elevators come in around $1,700. At the other end, security upgrades (cameras, fobs, lighting) have a median of about $200 per unit, and the "general" levies, the ones whose stated purpose is essentially we ran short this year, land near $500.
The band is wide for a reason that has nothing to do with contractors. Per-door cost is the whole-building cost divided by the number of doors. A $250,000 roof spread across 150 units is about $1,700 each; the same roof over 30 townhouses is $8,300 each. So a per-unit figure only means something next to the building's size, which is why our reports show both the levy and the unit count.
For scale, the whole-building medians: an approved roof levy is about $250,000, a repipe about $250,000, envelope work about $145,000, an elevator project about $130,000, and a straight top-up of the contingency fund about $64,000.
One vote in four fails, and the big asks fail more
A special levy needs a three-quarter vote of owners when it is apportioned the same way as strata fees, which is almost always the case. [1] Of the levy votes recorded in our sample from 2023 to 2026, about 25% were defeated. The rate has been steady: 27% in 2023, 25% in 2024, 23% in 2025 and about 30% so far in 2026.
| Category | Approved | Defeated |
|---|---|---|
| Envelope | $145,000 | $323,000 |
| Windows | $101,000 | $408,000 |
| Electrical | $30,000 | $86,000 |
| CRF top-up | $64,000 | $90,000 |
| Common areas | $50,000 | $56,000 |
| Roof | $249,000 | $176,000 |
The defeated levies are, on the whole, larger. Envelope levies that failed had a median ask of about $320,000 against $145,000 for the ones that passed. Window projects that failed asked for about $410,000; the ones that passed, about $100,000. Electrical work shows the same shape. Roofs are the exception: defeated roof levies were smaller than approved ones, about $180,000 against $250,000. Our reading is that when water is coming through the ceiling, owners pay, and the roof levies that fail tend to be the pre-emptive ones.
When the roof is already leaking, owners pay. The levies that fail are the ones for work nobody can see yet.
A defeat is rarely the end of the story. Where the work is needed for safety or to prevent significant loss and the resolution got a majority but not three-quarters, the strata can apply to the BC Supreme Court to have the levy approved anyway. [1] [2] That is expensive and slow, and in the minutes we read it is uncommon. What we see far more often is the same project back on the agenda a few months later, smaller, phased or re-explained. We will write about that pattern on its own.
Amounts are drifting up
The median approved levy was about $60,000 in 2023 and 2024, $73,000 in 2025, and about $100,000 for the first part of 2026. The 2026 figure covers part of a year and includes some large envelope projects, so treat it as a direction rather than a number. It does line up with what engineers have been putting in depreciation reports about construction-cost inflation.
What to do with this
If you are buying: the Form B lists levies already approved; the minutes show the ones being argued about. Divide any figure you see by the building's unit count and put it next to the table above.
If you are on council: this is the base rate. A roof or repipe levy in the low thousands per door is ordinary, and a resolution over about $300,000 has historically had a harder time reaching three-quarters.
If you want your neighbourhood: levy frequency and per-unit amounts by area are on StrataStats.
How we counted. Based on 2,000+ samples drawn from our pool of BC strata reviews. Figures come from the council and general-meeting minutes in those samples, mostly 2023 to 2026. Only resolutions the minutes record as approved or defeated are counted. Per-unit values divide the levy by the corporation's total unit count. Figures are medians and the middle half (p25–p75), rounded to two significant figures; purposes with too few levies to summarise are not shown. No building is identified. Neighbourhood-level figures live on StrataStats and follow the same minimum-sample rules. If you use these figures, a link back to this post is appreciated.
Further reading
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to pay a levy that was approved before I bought?
Generally, whoever owns the strata lot on the date a levy instalment is due pays it, so the conveyance date matters. The purchase contract can allocate it differently. The Form B discloses approved levies, which is why buyers ask for it.
Can a levy be split some other way than unit entitlement?
Yes, but then it needs a unanimous vote rather than three-quarters, because the contribution is no longer apportioned like strata fees.
What happens if the vote fails?
The levy cannot be collected. If the work is for safety or to prevent significant loss and the vote had majority support, the strata may ask the BC Supreme Court to approve it. Otherwise the project usually comes back to owners in a revised form.
What happened in a building, and whether it is normal
StrataReports reads the full document package of one strata or condo building and reports what happened in it. It then compares the whole building with similar buildings nearby, from finances and insurance to repairs, the condition of its components and disputes, and shows what is normal and what is not. Every finding links to its source page.