How to submit a question
This service is available to VISOA members only. To access this service, log in to your profile. See How to log in to your VISOA profile.
If you don’t have a profile, see How to create a VISOA profile.
When you log in, you’ll see a dashboard with coloured boxes to access VISOA’s resources and services. Click the orange box “Ask the Strata Support Team”. This takes you to an online form to submit a question to our team. Most of the information in the form will be filled in automatically. This makes it quick and easy for you to complete the form and provides our team with the membership information they need to serve you.
If your membership is expiring soon or has expired, you’ll see a gold or red banner at the top of the page where you can click to renew. For corporate memberships, only the account administrators (such as council members) can see the renewal banners. Learn How to renew your membership. For new members, see all membership plans and benefits.
About the Strata Support Team
VISOA’s Strata Support Team consists of volunteers who are experienced in dealing with strata issues. The team provides assistance to VISOA members in understanding the Strata Property Act, bylaws, procedures, expenditures, and more.
VISOA provides information, not legal advice.
The Strata Support Team provides information. It does not provide legal or technical advice. No person is permitted to reference VISOA and its members who are acting on behalf of VISOA in a manner which claims, implies or suggests that VISOA, or such members, have given a legal or technical opinion, ruling, or determination on a particular issue. Advice from a lawyer or other professional should be sought as appropriate.
What kinds of questions can I ask?
The types of questions you can submit depend on your membership type.
- Corporate members may receive assistance regarding strata council business or individual matters.
- Individual members may receive assistance regarding matters in their personal capacity as an owner, not in their role as a council member or on behalf of a strata council.
- Associate members may receive general information, not specific to any strata corporation as they don’t own a strata lot.
Are there questions that VISOA can’t answer?
VISOA provides information, not legal services or advice. We are not lawyers. There are times when we’ll assess your question and advise that you that you may wish to seek legal advice. It’s not that we don’t want to help you. However, we recognize situations where it is truly in your best interest or the best interests of the strata corporation to get a legal opinion or advice from a lawyer with experience in strata law.
Examples:
- VISOA cannot provide legal services such as writing bylaws or resolutions for you. Our volunteers are not lawyers and do not have the authority to practice law under the Legal Profession Act.
- We can’t tell you if you’ll be successful with a claim at a court or tribunal including the BC Supreme Court, Human Rights Tribunal, and Civil Resolution Tribunal. You can read past decisions or contact a lawyer to help you decide if you have a claim that has a reasonable chance of success. Learn how to find legal help and where to read past decisions.
- VISOA can’t make a determination of the responsibility for water damage due to a water leak. We can give you information about the law but we can’t give an opinion or make a determination about responsibility or who should pay for the damage.
- Our area of expertise is related to the Strata Property Act, Strata Property Regulation, and Standard Bylaws. Our services don’t include answering questions related to other legislation such as the Residential Tenancy Act, tax laws, municipal bylaws, building codes, etc. However we may be able to tell you where to find legislation and codes.
- If you have questions about the Human Rights Code, see the article About the Human Rights Code.
- Please don’t submit the same question multiple times. Our Strata Support Team answers a large volume of questions each year. By reducing the number of duplicated questions, we can serve all our members faster!
Are communications confidential?
Strata Support Team members are bound by a confidentiality agreement and will not disclose the contents of correspondence with any other person except that team members may share information amongst themselves for advice and quality control.
Note that communications between council members and VISOA regarding assistance with strata council business are considered “correspondence sent or received by the strata corporation and council” under section 35 (2) (k) of the Strata Property Act. Under section 36, upon request of an eligible person, the strata corporation must provide copies of these records or allow the person to inspect them. We suggest that council members communicate in a professional manner and include the minimum amount of personal information necessary about any person in their communications with VISOA.
