Strata or bare land strata - what is the difference?

I recently had an enquiry asking what is the difference between a strata and a bare land strata and whether there was a benefit of one over the other.

The Real Estate Council of British Columbia state that "the floors, walls and ceilings of the unit define the boundaries of strata lots in a building strata plan, which is the most common form of strata plan. Unless something different is shown on the strata plan, the boundary of a building strata lot is midway between the surface of the structural portion of the wall, floor, or ceiling that faces the strata lot and the surface of the structural portion of the wall, floor or ceiling that faces the other strata lot, the common property or the other parcel of land. In other words, an owner’s strata lot extends to the center of the structural portion of walls, floors and ceilings.

In a bare land strata development, the boundaries of the strata lot are defined on the horizontal plane by reference to survey markers. In other words, the strata lot is the land. A bare land strata lot appears similar to a lot in a typical single family subdivision; however, the bare land strata lot is part of a strata corporation whereas the lot in a non-strata subdivision is not legally connected to any other lot."

Simply put in a building strata plan the home owner is responsible for maintaining the inside of the home and the strata maintains the common property which is the outside of the home (siding, roof, windows etc) and the gardens, roads etc.

In a bare land strata the home owner maintains the inside and outside of the home and their garden area out to the survey markers. Quite often the only common areas maintained by the strata are the road. 

With regard to the benefit of one over the other a bare land strata usually has fewer rules and lower monthly strata fees but there is more for the home owner to maintain. It is therefore usually more of a question of how much maintenance the home owner would like to do...or not like to do!

The BC Gov website also has information on strata's HERE.