Council hearings: the four-week rule
Any owner or tenant can require council to hear them in person. The deadlines are short, fixed, and regularly missed by councils that do not know them.
Section 34.1 of the Strata Property Act gives every owner and tenant a blunt tool: request a hearing in writing, and council must hold one. It is the pressure valve of strata governance, the formal way to be heard when letters are going unanswered, and one of the first procedural boxes the Civil Resolution Tribunal checks when a dispute arrives from either direction.
The mechanics and the deadlines
The request must be in writing and state the reason for the hearing. From there the Act sets two clocks:
| Step | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Council must hold the hearing at a council meeting | Within 4 weeks of the request |
| If the purpose was to seek a decision, council must give its decision in writing | Within 1 week after the hearing |
A hearing means an opportunity to be heard in person (or by video where the meeting is electronic). Reading someone's letter aloud is not a hearing.
What a hearing is, and is not
A hearing is not a trial. There is no cross-examination and no lawyerly procedure: the applicant attends part of a council meeting, says their piece, answers questions, and leaves the room while council deliberates. Council's job is to listen genuinely, ask what outcome the person is seeking, and then decide the matter it was asked to decide. Councils that treat hearings as a formality to be endured usually meet the same owner again at the Tribunal, where "we held the hearing but plainly ignored it" reads badly.
Hearings inside bylaw enforcement
The other place hearings appear is section 135: before fining an owner or tenant for a bylaw contravention, council must give written particulars of the complaint and a reasonable opportunity to answer, including a hearing if one is requested. The two provisions work together, and the same care applies. Our enforcement guide walks the full sequence.
What the minutes should say
Record that a hearing was held, the general subject at a discreet level ("a hearing was held regarding a parking allocation concern for SL 12"), and the decision with its date. Keep the personal detail out, per our privacy guide, and deliver the written decision to the applicant separately. If the hearing was requested and the four-week window was missed, expect that fact to surface later; calendar the deadline the day the request arrives.
Let us handle the minutes themselves
StrataMinutes turns your council's rough notes into complete, professionally formatted minutes that meet the requirements of the Strata Property Act, usually within minutes. Every document comes with a compliance checklist.
No payment details needed for your first council meeting.
This page is general information for BC strata councils, not legal advice. See the current text of the Strata Property Act and the Strata Property Regulation on BC Laws.
Related guides
Bylaw Enforcement
Minutes and Privacy
CRT Disputes
Council Roles