When you own a condo or townhouse in BC, you share more than walls with your neighbours — you share plumbing infrastructure. Main supply lines, drain stacks, and hot water systems often serve multiple units, and the rules around who is responsible for maintenance, repairs, and damage are different from a detached home.
Most strata owners don't think about plumbing until something goes wrong — a leak that damages the unit below, a pipe failure that requires building-wide access, or a major replacement project that the strata corporation is slow to approve. Understanding how strata plumbing works before these situations arise can save you significant money and frustration.
This guide covers the key concepts every BC strata owner should understand. If you're already dealing with a strata plumbing issue, our team has extensive experience working with strata councils and property managers across Greater Victoria. Learn more about our strata plumbing services or call us at (778) 265-6446.
What Makes Strata Plumbing Different?
In a detached home, everything from the water main to the kitchen tap is your responsibility. In a strata property, the plumbing system is divided between common property (owned and maintained by the strata corporation) and individual strata lots (your unit). The BC Strata Property Act governs how these responsibilities are divided.
What makes strata plumbing complicated isn't the plumbing itself — it's the shared ownership. Multiple owners are connected to the same infrastructure, decisions require council approval, costs are divided according to bylaws, and one owner's neglect can directly affect their neighbours.
A pipe failure in a detached home is a hassle. A pipe failure in a strata building can become a multi-unit insurance claim, a dispute between owners, and a months-long coordination effort. That's why understanding the structure upfront matters.
Common Property vs Your Strata Lot
The most important distinction in strata plumbing is which pipes are common property and which belong to individual unit owners. While the exact division depends on your strata plan, here's how it typically breaks down:
Common property (strata corporation)
Main water supply lines entering the building, vertical drain stacks that serve multiple units, shared hot water systems (if applicable), sewer connections to the municipal system, and any piping that runs through common areas like hallways, mechanical rooms, or between unit walls where it serves more than one unit.
Your strata lot (individual owner)
Fixtures (toilets, sinks, bathtubs, dishwashers), in-suite supply lines that branch off from the common supply to serve only your unit, and drain lines from your fixtures to the point where they connect to the common drain stack. Your water heater, if it is an individual unit rather than a shared system.
Where exactly the boundary falls matters. The strata plan filed with the Land Title Office defines common property and strata lot boundaries for your specific building. If there's ever a dispute about who is responsible for a pipe, the strata plan is the starting document.
How Plumbing Repairs Work in a Strata
Plumbing repairs in a strata follow a different process than in a detached home. The approach depends on whether the issue is in common property or within your individual unit:
- Common property repairs — the strata corporation is responsible. The owner reports the issue to the property manager or strata council, who arranges the repair. The cost comes from the strata's operating budget or contingency reserve fund.
- In-unit repairs — the individual unit owner is responsible. You hire your own plumber and pay for the repair directly. For issues entirely within your unit, you typically don't need strata approval.
- Grey area situations — many plumbing issues involve both common property and individual units. A leak in a shared stack that damages your unit, for example, involves the strata's responsibility for the pipe and your potential insurance claim for damage. These situations require clear communication between the owner, the strata council, and the property manager.
For any repair that requires access to common areas, involves shutting off water to other units, or affects shared infrastructure, always notify your strata council or property manager before work begins. Failing to do so can create liability issues and strained relationships with your neighbours and council.
When Your Unit Damages a Neighbour
One of the most stressful strata plumbing scenarios is when a leak in your unit causes water damage to the unit below — or vice versa. These situations can become complicated quickly, and understanding the insurance landscape helps.
If a pipe within your strata lot fails and damages a neighbour's unit, your strata lot insurance (contents insurance) may cover your liability for the damage. The strata corporation's insurance typically covers the building structure itself, but not individual unit contents or improvements.
Many strata corporations in BC have bylaws that allow them to charge back the strata insurance deductible to the owner whose unit was the source of the damage. These deductibles can be substantial. Having adequate strata lot insurance with liability coverage is not optional — it's essential.
The best way to prevent these situations is proactive maintenance. If you know your unit has aging plumbing — particularly Poly B pipe — getting ahead of a potential failure is far less expensive than dealing with the aftermath of a multi-unit water damage claim.
Poly B Pipe in Strata Buildings
A significant number of BC strata buildings constructed between 1978 and 1995 still have Poly B pipe. In a strata setting, Poly B creates a unique challenge because the pipe runs through both common property and individual units — and replacing it requires coordination across the entire building.
Whose responsibility is it? If the Poly B supply lines running through common areas are common property, the strata corporation is responsible for replacing them. The in-suite portion may be the individual owner's responsibility. In practice, most strata corporations that undertake Poly B replacement do it as a building-wide project to avoid the complications of a piecemeal approach.
Strata-wide Poly B replacement is a major capital project. It typically requires a special levy or draw from the contingency reserve fund, a vote at a general meeting, and careful coordination to minimize disruption across all units. Our team has managed these projects for strata buildings across Greater Victoria — we understand the process and work directly with strata councils and property managers to keep things organized. Learn more about our Poly B replacement services.
What to Do If Your Strata Won't Act
Sometimes strata councils are slow to address plumbing issues — whether it's aging infrastructure, known Poly B pipe, or recurring leak problems. If you've raised the issue and the council hasn't acted, you have options under the BC Strata Property Act:
- Put it in writing — submit a formal written request to the strata council documenting the issue. Keep copies of everything. Written records matter if the situation escalates.
- Request a council meeting — under the Strata Property Act, owners can request that an item be placed on the agenda for the next council or general meeting.
- Get a professional assessment — having a licensed plumber provide a written report on the condition of the plumbing gives the council clear, professional evidence of what needs to be done. This is often the catalyst that moves things forward.
- Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT) — if the strata corporation is failing to maintain or repair common property as required under the Act, you can file a dispute with the CRT. This is an online dispute resolution process designed specifically for strata issues in BC.
Most strata councils are not acting in bad faith — they're volunteer boards dealing with competing priorities and limited budgets. A clear, professional assessment of the plumbing issue often provides the information they need to make a decision and allocate the necessary funds.
"We were brought in by a strata council in Langford to coordinate a building-wide Poly B replacement across 24 units. It was one of the more complex projects we've managed — not because the plumbing was unusual, but because of the coordination involved.
Every unit needed access scheduled, water shutoffs had to be planned so no more than a few units were down at a time, and we were working with a property manager, a strata council, and two dozen homeowners who all had different schedules and concerns. Communication was everything.
We got it done on schedule and without a single complaint to council. That's the part of strata plumbing work that doesn't show up in a quote — it's the planning, the communication, and the respect for the fact that you're working in people's homes. Get that right and the plumbing part is the easy part."
Frequently Asked Questions
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