Condo vs townhome strata inspections, and what shifts between them.

Every multi-unit residential property sold under the BC Strata Property Act creates a shared ownership entity, whether the building is a high-rise condo or a townhome complex. That entity owns common property. Owners hold strata lots. Councils make decisions on behalf of owners. None of that changes between a downtown condominium and a forty-unit townhome complex. The depreciation report obligation is also identical: five or more lots triggers the requirement, covering the next thirty years of expected common-property work.

A condominium strata concentrates the building. One envelope, one roof, central mechanical, shared amenities, and a parkade often define the entire scope. Inspection time weights heavily toward envelope transitions, mechanical room conditions, parkade slab and drainage, and life-safety systems on shared risers.

A townhome strata distributes the building across many smaller envelopes. Roof and cladding work multiplies across each building, drainage and site water spread across the property, and shared infrastructure like private roads, lighting, and irrigation joins the inspection list. Coverage area can be larger than a comparable condo strata even though no single building is as tall.

In both condo and townhome strata buildings, the inspection becomes the building record decision-makers read, whoever manages the building acts on, and the depreciation report provider relies on for current condition data. The format does not change. The emphasis shifts: more shared-system content in the condo strata record, more multi-envelope and site-drainage content in the townhome strata record.