My strata says the drains outside my unit are limited common property. Does that change it?

It can. A bylaw may make an owner responsible for limited common property they have a right to use, so the designation on your strata plan matters. A below-grade drain along a shared foundation wall is usually plain common property, but check the plan rather than assume.

Will I still have to pay something?

Most likely yes, as your share of a special levy. The difference is that it is apportioned across the strata rather than billed to the owner whose unit got wet.

The council keeps deferring it. What then?

The Civil Resolution Tribunal hears strata property disputes and has ordered stratas to carry out drainage repairs. Before that stage, get your request and the council's answer into the minutes — that record is what a decision later rests on.

Water is getting into my townhouse. The strata says the drains are my problem. Are they?

Who pays for perimeter drain repairs in a strata?

Direct answer · reviewed 2026-10-06

Almost certainly not yours alone, and this is the one component where the instinct is backwards. A perimeter drainage system runs below grade on the outside of the foundation wall, which puts it in common property rather than inside your strata lot — the Civil Resolution Tribunal has found exactly that, in a dispute about exactly this. Section 72 of the Strata Property Act then makes the strata responsible for repairing common property, and the tribunal has said plainly that the strata cannot transfer that responsibility to the owner. What this does not mean is that it costs you nothing: the usual way a repair of this size gets paid for is a special levy, and you own a share of the building, so you own a share of the levy. The difference is that it is a building expense assessed across everyone, not a bill that lands on the owner whose floor got wet.

Conditions and exceptions

Your own strata plan and bylaws decide what is common property in your building. This is the usual answer, not an automatic one.
Limited common property is a different category, and a bylaw can put some of it on the owner who uses it.
If there is water inside now, photograph it and write to the council in writing. A dispute later turns on the record made at the time.

Drain problem assessment

Local evidence

Every figure below is quoted from the source shown or is our labelled estimate. Verified dates are the day we last checked the source; a figure whose check is overdue is withheld rather than shown.

In a strata, whose perimeter drain is it?: The strata's. A below-grade perimeter drainage system on the outside of the foundation walls is common property; Your own strata plan and bylaws decide what is common property in your building; this is the usual answer, not an automatic one; Province of British Columbia (BC Laws) · quoted · verified 2026-10-06
Can the strata put the repair back on the owner?: No. Section 72 makes the strata responsible for repairing common property, and that duty cannot be handed to the owner; The strata may still raise the money by special levy, in which case every owner pays a share — including you; Province of British Columbia (BC Laws) · quoted · verified 2026-10-06

The line runs at the foundation wall, not at your door

People reason from the inside out: the water appeared in my unit, so it is my repair. The Act reasons from the structure. The strata's. A below-grade perimeter drainage system on the outside of the foundation walls is common property

That matters because the expensive half of a drainage repair is outside: excavation along the footings, new pipe, new filter fabric, sometimes the foundation wall itself. None of it is inside anyone's strata lot.

The duty cannot be handed over

This is the sentence worth carrying into a council meeting: No. Section 72 makes the strata responsible for repairing common property, and that duty cannot be handed to the owner

In the decision this comes from, the tribunal ordered the strata to repair the perimeter drainage system and foundation walls with the help of a professional engineer, and ordered the work funded by special levy — without the usual three-quarter vote. The point is not that you can expect that outcome. It is that the duty is the strata's to discharge, and a council that would rather not is not deciding a question that is open.

What it still costs you

A special levy is apportioned across the strata lots, so an owner in a twenty-unit building pays a share rather than the whole. On a job that would be ten to twenty thousand dollars for a detached house, that is a very different number from the one you were quietly dreading.

The strata also gets latitude about how it fixes the problem. Tribunals have accepted that a council may choose a good, cheaper, less permanent solution where a better one existed. So the fight worth having is usually about whether the work gets done and whether an engineer scopes it, not about which product gets specified.

What to do first

Write to the council asking it to investigate the perimeter drainage, and ask for the request to be minuted. Ask whether the building has ever had the drains scoped, and whether there is a depreciation report entry for them.

Then separate the two questions as you would in a house. Whose repair it is, is a strata question. Whether the drain has actually failed is a camera question, and the answer to the first does not change the answer to the second.

Questions homeowners ask

My strata says the drains outside my unit are limited common property. Does that change it?: It can. A bylaw may make an owner responsible for limited common property they have a right to use, so the designation on your strata plan matters. A below-grade drain along a shared foundation wall is usually plain common property, but check the plan rather than assume.
Will I still have to pay something?: Most likely yes, as your share of a special levy. The difference is that it is apportioned across the strata rather than billed to the owner whose unit got wet.
The council keeps deferring it. What then?: The Civil Resolution Tribunal hears strata property disputes and has ordered stratas to carry out drainage repairs. Before that stage, get your request and the council's answer into the minutes — that record is what a decision later rests on.

Your next step

A council acts on evidence, and a camera report is the cheapest piece of evidence there is.

Work out what is actually wrong first

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Sources

Strata Property Act, SBC 1998 c.43, section 72 — Repair of property — Province of British Columbia (BC Laws), accessed 2026-10-06
Stadacona Dental Centre Ltd. v. The Owners, Strata Plan 1136, 2020 BCCRT 583 — Civil Resolution Tribunal of British Columbia, accessed 2026-10-06

Code and municipal requirements are quoted from the sources above; price ranges are what named local companies publish, and the companies that publish them sell the work. Nothing here is a diagnosis of a particular house: only a camera in your own drain can tell you what is wrong with it. Report a correction.