AGM and SGM minutes in BC: what to record

Council meeting minutes record the decisions of a few volunteers. Annual and special general meeting minutes record the decisions of the owners themselves: budgets, special levies, bylaw amendments, and elections. When a levy or bylaw is challenged years later, the general meeting minutes are usually the only evidence that it was properly passed. They are worth doing carefully.

The deadlines around a general meeting

Timing of the AGM. Under section 40 of the Strata Property Act, the annual general meeting must be held no later than two months after the strata corporation's fiscal year end.

Notice. Under section 45, owners must receive at least two weeks' written notice of an AGM or SGM, including the proposed agenda, the budget, and the exact wording of any resolution requiring a 3/4 vote or unanimous vote. Allow extra days for mailed notice.

Quorum. Under section 48, business cannot be conducted unless eligible voters holding one third of the strata corporation's votes are present in person or by proxy. For stratas with fewer than four lots or fewer than four owners, the threshold is two thirds. If quorum is not reached, the Act and your bylaws determine whether the meeting adjourns or proceeds; record exactly what happened.

Distribution afterward. The safe practice, and the requirement in many bylaws, is to circulate general meeting minutes to owners within two weeks, the same clock Standard Bylaw 19 sets for council minutes. Buyers' lawyers will ask for these minutes for years afterward, and the strata must produce them within two weeks of a records request under section 36.

What AGM and SGM minutes must include

Section 35 requires minutes of general meetings including the results of any votes. To make the record actually usable, professional AGM minutes capture all of the following:

Section	What to record
Registration	Number of eligible voters present in person, number of proxies registered, and the total, so quorum can be verified from the document alone.
Call to order and chair	Time the meeting began and who chaired it.
Proof of notice	A line confirming notice was given in accordance with section 45.
Approval of agenda and previous minutes	Standard motions with results.
Reports	Council president's and treasurer's reports, summarized in a sentence or two each, plus depreciation report or insurance updates if presented.
Resolutions	The exact wording of each resolution as voted on, whether it required a majority, 3/4, or unanimous vote, and the result. For 3/4 votes, record the counts for and against. Note any amendments made from the floor.
Budget	The motion approving the budget and the result, with the fiscal year identified.
Election of council	Who stood, who was elected, and the size of the new council.
Adjournment	Time the meeting ended.

A resolution that was announced as "passed" but whose wording and count were never written down is an invitation to a Civil Resolution Tribunal dispute.

Common mistakes in general meeting minutes

Paraphrasing resolutions. The minutes should quote the resolution exactly as it appeared in the notice, including any amendment adopted at the meeting. A paraphrase that differs from the registered wording can undermine a bylaw filing or levy.

Losing the proxy count. Quorum challenges usually come down to the registration numbers. Record them at the start, and if people leave partway through a long meeting, note whether quorum was maintained for later votes.

Recording the debate. As with council minutes, general meeting minutes record decisions, not arguments. Summaries of heated exchanges tend to be inaccurate, unkind, and legally risky.

Waiting for approval to distribute. General meeting minutes are not approved until the next general meeting, which may be a year away. Do not sit on them; circulate the draft promptly, marked as a draft.

SGM minutes

Special general meetings follow the same rules: section 45 notice, section 48 quorum, exact resolution wording, and vote results. Because SGMs are usually called for one contentious item, a special levy or a bylaw change, their minutes receive the closest scrutiny of all. The same structure applies; it is simply shorter.

This page is general information for BC strata councils, not legal advice. See the Strata Property Act on BC Laws for the current text of sections 35, 40, 45, and 48.

Related guides

A strata minutes template for BC
What BC law requires of strata minutes
How to take strata meeting minutes
A complete sample of finished strata minutes