- What do you actually own when you are renovating a condo in Canada
- Who approves a condo renovation in each province
- What a condo board demands from your trades before work starts
- Why the standard unit boundary decides who pays for water damage
- What to do before you sign anything
- Frequently asked questions
Renovating a condo in Canada is quoted as though the unit is yours to change. Part of it is not. The plumbing riser behind the vanity, the slab under the tile, and in most buildings the window you were planning to replace are common property. The line between what you own and what the corporation owns was registered before you took possession, and it is not the drywall.
That line has a different name in every province: the standard unit definition in Ontario, the standard insurable unit description in Alberta, the parts of the strata lot the corporation must insure in British Columbia, the description of the private portions in Quebec. The side your finishes land on decides who repairs them after damage, whose policy responds, and who carries the deductible.
Boards get the attention because they say no. The board is downstream. It applies a declaration, bylaws and a standard unit definition registered before you bought, and those documents have already answered most of what your renovation is about to ask.
The board does not decide who pays for the water damage. A document registered before you moved in already did.
What follows is the sequence a prepared homeowner runs before a trade is booked: establish the boundary, identify the approval instrument for your province, assemble what the board demands of your trades, price the insurance exposure. Condominium law in Canada is provincial, so the instruments differ. The order does not.
What do you actually own when you are renovating a condo in Canada
Less than the floor plan suggests, and the shortfall is specific. Canada has no national condominium law. The CMHC Condominium Buyer's Guide covers what common elements are; your registered documents decide where yours stop.
In Ontario the corporation repairs the common elements and the standard unit, and the owner repairs everything outside that definition. The Condominium Authority of Ontario states it plainly: the standard unit definition generally does not include alterations or renovations, and anything not in it is an improvement the owner repairs. A corporation that never passed a standard unit by-law falls back on the declarant's schedule from turn-over. Sections 89 to 91 of the Condominium Act, 1998 carry the split, and section 91 lets a declaration reallocate it.
Alberta made the boundary mandatory. Since 1 January 2020 every corporation must adopt a standard insurable unit description and give it to its insurer and to every owner, covering floor, wall and ceiling finishes, electrical, plumbing and gas lines and fixtures, air exchange and temperature control fixtures, non-boundary walls with their doors and windows, cabinets, countertops and non-chattel appliances. Upgrades above that description are not covered by the corporation's policy.
British Columbia writes the boundary into the approval rule. Standard Bylaw 5 requires written approval before altering the structure of a building, the exterior, doors and windows fronting common property, common property located inside the strata lot boundaries, and "those parts of the strata lot which the strata corporation must insure under section 149 of the Act". The Schedule of Standard Bylaws is the text to read.
Quebec draws it in the Civil Code. Article 1044 presumes the piping and wiring common "including that which runs through private portions", and article 1045 presumes non-structural partitions between portions common. Article 1070 requires the syndicate to keep a description of the private portions precise enough to identify improvements made by co-owners. The text sits on LégisQuébec.
Four provinces, four instruments, one consequence: the wall you are about to open is a legal surface before it is a construction surface.
Ask for the document by its provincial name — standard unit definition, standard insurable unit description, section 149 insured parts, description of the private portions — and read it before you brief a designer.
Who approves a condo renovation in each province
Work wholly inside the unit and work touching common property are two different approvals, and most renovations trigger both.
In Ontario, work inside the unit answers to the declaration, bylaws and rules, which commonly impose notice, material restrictions and working hours. Work touching the common elements — including exclusive-use balconies and terraces — triggers section 98: the board approves by resolution, and the owner signs a written agreement registered on title recording who owns the alteration and who maintains, repairs and insures it. Owners pay to prepare and register it, plus any engineering review the board requires. The status certificate discloses whether a unit already carries one, which is how a previous owner's alteration surfaces.
In British Columbia the council approves under Standard Bylaws 5 and 6, must not unreasonably withhold approval, and may require the owner to agree in writing to carry every expense relating to the alteration. Above that sits section 71 of the Strata Property Act: a significant change in the use or appearance of common property generally needs a three-quarters vote at a general meeting. Removing a wall that is a common boundary between adjoining strata lots falls under section 70.
In Alberta the answer sits in the registered bylaws, which vary more than owners expect. Take them from Land Titles, not a summary.
Quebec is not a common-law condominium regime. A Quebec condo is a divided co-ownership under the Civil Code, governed by a notarial declaration of co-ownership: the act constituting the co-ownership, the by-laws of the immovable, and the description of the fractions. Article 1063 gives free use of the private portion, but only within the by-laws, the rights of other co-owners and the destination of the immovable. Work altering the common portions takes a three-quarters vote under article 1097, as does any amendment to the description of the private portions. Current obligations sit on the Government of Quebec's divided co-ownership page.
None of this replaces the municipality. A board resolution is not a building permit and a permit is not board approval; both can be required for the same wall, on separate clocks. See our guide to whether you need a permit to renovate in Canada.
Price the work before the board prices you
The free Renovation Cost Calculator gives you a trade-by-trade estimate in under 5 minutes — before your first trade conversation. In a condo it is also the number you measure every board-imposed condition against, because each one arrives as a variation.
What a condo board demands from your trades before work starts
A board that approves the scope will still stop the work at the loading dock if the paperwork is thin. The list is predictable, so it belongs in the quote, not in a variation.
Expect a certificate of insurance for commercial general liability naming the corporation as an additional insured, and expect the expiry date to be checked. Expect proof of workers' compensation: a WSIB clearance certificate in Ontario, a WorkSafeBC clearance letter in British Columbia, WCB coverage in Alberta, CNESST registration in Quebec. Two are missed constantly: WSIB's clearance policy protects a principal who lets a contract and expressly does not apply to householders buying services, so the certificate the board collects is not protecting you. WorkSafeBC warns separately that proprietors and partners may insure their workers while declining Personal Coverage for themselves.
Licensing is provincial and Quebec is strictest. The Régie du bâtiment du Québec requires a contractor licence for all work in the common portions. Inside the private portion no licence is needed for painting, wallpaper, joint taping, drywall, floor coverings, cabinets or countertops, and heating or plumbing repairs are exempt only under $20,000. Electrical, gas and petroleum work always requires a licensed contractor. In Ontario an electrical notification filed with the Electrical Safety Authority is separate from the building permit.
The rest is logistics with a price attached: elevator bookings, corridor protection, restricted hours, waste routes, parking. Each separates a quote from a real number — the same discipline behind managing your own renovation without a general contractor.
Why the standard unit boundary decides who pays for water damage
Because insurance follows the boundary, and a renovation moves value across it in one direction.
Before the work, a builder-grade bathroom sits inside the standard unit and the corporation's policy carries it. After it, the stone, cabinetry, heated floor and fixtures are improvements. In Ontario and Alberta they fall to the owner. In Quebec article 1073 requires the syndicate to insure the whole immovable to the exclusion of improvements a co-owner made to their portion, identified against its description — which is why article 1070 requires that description to exist.
Then the deductible. Under section 105 of Ontario's Condominium Act, where an owner, resident or guest causes damage to the unit by an act or omission, the lesser of the repair cost and the corporation's deductible is added to that unit as a common expense, and a by-law under section 105(3) can widen the circumstances. Ontario's Divisional Court has confirmed that "act or omission" requires no finding of negligence. The Condominium Authority of Ontario sets out the mechanics on its chargebacks page. Alberta corporations may require owners by bylaw to insure the deductible up to $50,000.
Stack those and the trap is plain. A failed membrane under new tile is an act or omission traceable to your unit. The units below are repaired to their standard unit specification by the corporation's insurer, their improvements are their own insurers' problem, and the deductible returns to you. That is why how the waterproofing is actually built matters more in a condo than in a house, and why the membrane sign-off is a hold point.
What to do before you sign anything
Six steps before a deposit moves. Each exists because skipping it produces a variation, a chargeback or a rejected drawing.
- Order the status certificate or its provincial equivalent and read the insurance page first. In Ontario it must arrive within 10 days for no more than $100 including taxes, and it discloses any alteration agreement already registered against the unit.
- Take the registered declaration and bylaws from land titles, not a summary from the manager. Registered text is what a board and a court apply.
- Compare the standard unit definition, standard insurable unit description or description of the private portions line by line with your specification. Every line in yours and not in theirs is an improvement you insure.
- Ask the board in writing which approval instrument applies to your scope, and keep the answer. A verbal yes from a manager is not a resolution and not an agreement registered on title.
- Put every board condition into the trade's quote before you accept it. Certificates, clearance letters, elevator bookings, hours and protection are priced work, and each added afterwards arrives as a variation.
- Call your insurer with the finished specification and raise your improvements limit before demolition. Confirm the corporation's current deductible at the same time — that is the number that lands on you.
That sequence is phases one through six of The 12-Phase System applied to a building with a rulebook. The phases do not change in a condo. The evidence each one must produce does, and the corporation audits it rather than you.
See the Renovation Blueprint systems
Every room. Every phase. Every decision — before it needs to be made.
If the cost baseline is the right first step, use the free Renovation Cost Calculator — a trade-by-trade estimate for the specific renovation, in under 5 minutes, before any trade has quoted or any drawing has reached a board.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need board approval to renovate inside my condo unit in Canada?
Usually yes, and always if the work touches anything outside the unit boundary. Decorative work inside the unit is often subject only to notice and rules on hours, noise and elevator use. Work touching the structure, exterior, plumbing risers, electrical feeds or any common element requires approval, and in Ontario an alteration to the common elements also needs a written agreement registered on title under section 98. Read the registered documents; a declaration can reallocate responsibilities.
What is a standard unit definition and why does it matter for a renovation?
It is the list of what your corporation treats as part of the unit as originally built, and therefore what its insurance covers after damage. In Ontario it is a by-law or the declarant's schedule; in Alberta the standard insurable unit description; in Quebec the description of the private portions required by article 1070. Anything above that list is an improvement you insure yourself.
Do I still need a building permit if the condo board approves my renovation?
Yes, where the work is permit-triggering under municipal and provincial rules. Board approval and a building permit are separate consents from separate authorities; neither substitutes for the other. Structural change, moved plumbing and most electrical work are permit or notification events whatever the board decides.
Who pays for water damage if my new bathroom leaks into the unit below?
The corporation's insurer generally repairs the common elements and the standard unit elements of the affected units, and each owner's policy covers their own improvements. The deductible is where it reaches you. In Ontario, section 105 adds the lesser of the repair cost and the corporation's deductible to your unit as a common expense where damage was caused by an act or omission, with no finding of negligence required.
Can a condo board refuse a renovation outright?
It can refuse work that breaches the declaration, bylaws or rules, and it can attach conditions to an approval. In British Columbia the corporation must not unreasonably withhold approval under Standard Bylaw 5, but may require the owner to agree in writing to carry every expense relating to the alteration. Boards must act reasonably and consistently between owners.
Are the rules different in Quebec?
Materially, yes. Quebec has no condominium statute; a condo is a divided co-ownership under the Civil Code of Québec, run by a syndicate and governed by a notarial declaration of co-ownership. Piping and wiring are presumed common even where they run through private portions, and non-structural partitions between portions are presumed common. A Régie du bâtiment du Québec licence is required for all work in the common portions.