How long after a meeting must strata minutes go to owners?
Two weeks for council minutes, approved or not. General meeting and hearing minutes follow different rules. Here is every deadline, how to count it, and how to deliver minutes so the date can be proven.
Last reviewed November 5, 2026, against the current Strata Property Act, Strata Property Regulation and Standard Bylaws on BC Laws.
The short answer
Under Standard Bylaw 19, council must inform owners of the minutes of every council meeting within 2 weeks of the meeting, whether or not the minutes have been approved. The Act sets no fixed deadline for sending AGM or SGM minutes, but any owner can request them and must receive them within 2 weeks (section 36). Check your strata's filed bylaws, since some replace Bylaw 19 with a different period.
Every minutes deadline in one table
| What | Deadline | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Inform owners of council meeting minutes | Within 2 weeks of the meeting, approved or not | Standard Bylaw 19 |
| Inform owners that a council meeting has been called | As soon as feasible after it is called | Standard Bylaw 14(4) |
| AGM and SGM minutes to owners | No fixed deadline in the Act; check your bylaws. Approved at the next general meeting | Standard Bylaw 28(f) |
| Copies of any minutes an owner requests | Within 2 weeks of the request | Section 36(3) |
| Written decision after a section 34.1 hearing | Within 1 week of the hearing | Section 34.1(3) |
| Written decision on a bylaw fine or penalty | As soon as feasible | Section 135(2) |
| Inform owners of emergency spending | As soon as feasible | Section 98(6) |
Council minutes: the two-week rule
Standard Bylaw 19 reads, in full, that council "must inform owners of the minutes of all council meetings within 2 weeks of the meeting, whether or not the minutes have been approved." Three things follow from those words.
- The clock starts at the meeting, not when the secretary finishes the draft or when council approves it. A meeting on March 3 means owners are informed by March 17.
- Approval is not a reason to wait. The common habit of holding minutes until the next meeting approves them breaks the bylaw whenever council meets less than every two weeks, which is almost always. Send the draft, marked as such. Our guide to approving minutes and marking drafts shows the wording.
- It applies to every council meeting, including short or electronic meetings and meetings that dealt mostly with confidential matters. Those minutes still go out, with private details summarized rather than spelled out (see what stays out of the minutes).
Bylaw 19 applies if your strata uses the Standard Bylaws or has filed bylaws that keep it. Many stratas have amended bylaws with a different period, such as "within one month," so read your registered bylaws. If your bylaws are silent and the Standard Bylaws were replaced entirely, the safe course is still to follow the two-week rule, because owners can demand the minutes under section 36 anyway.
Minutes deadline calculator
Enter the date of the council meeting. The result shows the last day to inform owners under Standard Bylaw 19.
If you deliver by mail or email, aim to send at least four days early: section 61(3) treats a mailed or emailed document as given four days after it is sent. More tools: all deadline calculators.
AGM and SGM minutes
The Act requires minutes of every annual and special general meeting, including the results of votes (section 35), but neither the Act nor the Standard Bylaws set a date by which general meeting minutes must be sent to owners. They are approved at the next general meeting, which under the Standard Bylaws' order of business is the first thing after the agenda (Standard Bylaw 28(f)).
That does not mean they can sit in a drawer for a year. Owners can request them at any time and must receive copies within two weeks (section 36). Buyers ask for them during every sale. And a budget, a special levy or a bylaw amendment passed at the meeting affects every owner immediately. Good practice in BC is to send general meeting minutes within two to four weeks, and many stratas' own bylaws require it. Our guides on AGM minutes, SGM minutes and the sample AGM minutes cover what they must contain.
Hearing minutes and decisions
A section 34.1 hearing happens at a council meeting, so it appears in that meeting's minutes and the minutes go out within two weeks like any other. The owner who asked for the hearing is also owed a written decision within one week of the hearing if they asked for a decision (section 34.1(3)). The minutes that go to all owners should record that a hearing was held and the decision, without the personal details. Our hearing templates include wording for both.
How to deliver minutes so the date can be proven
Standard Bylaw 19 says "inform," not "deliver a copy," and councils use several methods. Choose one you can prove later:
- Email to the address each owner has provided for receiving strata documents (section 61(1)(b)(vii)). Keep the sent message with its date.
- Mail or hand delivery under section 61, for owners who have not given an email address.
- A secure owners' portal or website, with an email or notice telling owners the minutes are posted. A portal nobody is told about is weak evidence of informing anyone.
- A posted notice in a designated common area can supplement these, but do not rely on posting alone for minutes.
Keep a one-line record each time: "Minutes of the March 3 council meeting emailed to all owners on March 10." That line ends most "we never got the minutes" disputes before they start.
Sample cover email
Subject: Draft minutes, council meeting of March 3
Dear owners, attached are the draft minutes of the council meeting held March 3. They are circulated under Standard Bylaw 19 and will be presented for approval at the next council meeting on April 7. Corrections, if any, will be noted in those minutes. Records requests may be sent to council at the strata's address.
If the minutes are late
Late minutes do not undo the decisions made at the meeting, but they breach the bylaw, and repeated breaches are a common complaint in Civil Resolution Tribunal disputes about council conduct. An owner who has not received minutes can make a written request under section 36, which starts a hard two-week deadline. Our records request guide has a letter for owners.
For councils, the fix is structural rather than heroic: agree at each meeting who drafts the minutes and the date they will be sent, and keep the drafting time short. Most late minutes are late because a volunteer secretary is writing them from scratch.
Corrected and amended minutes
Corrections are made by motion at the meeting that approves the minutes and recorded in that meeting's minutes, which then go out within two weeks in the usual way. There is no need to recirculate the entire earlier document unless the change is significant, though many councils do. Never quietly replace a version owners already have. Our guide to correcting strata minutes has the motion wording.
Questions councils and owners ask
How long after a council meeting must strata minutes be distributed in BC?
Within 2 weeks of the meeting under Standard Bylaw 19, whether or not the minutes have been approved. Your strata's filed bylaws may set a different period, so check them.
Is the two weeks counted like the notice period for an AGM?
It is counted from the date of the meeting. Unlike AGM notice, Bylaw 19 sets a deadline after an event rather than a minimum period before one. If you mail or email the minutes, send them at least four days early, because section 61(3) treats them as given four days after they are sent.
How soon after an AGM must the minutes be sent to owners?
The Act and Standard Bylaws set no fixed deadline for AGM or SGM minutes. They are approved at the next general meeting. Owners can request them at any time and must receive them within two weeks, and good practice is to send them within two to four weeks.
Do council minutes have to be approved before they are sent?
No. Bylaw 19 requires owners to be informed within two weeks whether or not the minutes have been approved. Send them marked as a draft.
Do amended council minutes have to be sent to owners?
The correction is made by motion and recorded in the minutes of the meeting that approved it, and those minutes go to owners within two weeks. That is usually enough, but if the correction changes a decision, send owners a note explaining it.
Do strata hearing minutes go out to all owners?
The council meeting minutes that go to all owners should record that a hearing was held and the decision, without personal details. The owner who asked for the hearing receives a separate written decision within one week.
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This page is general information for BC strata corporations, not legal advice. Your strata's own filed bylaws may differ from the Standard Bylaws. See the current text of the Strata Property Act and the Strata Property Regulation on BC Laws.
Related guides
Approving Minutes and Marking Drafts
What BC Law Requires of Strata Minutes
Are Strata Minutes Public? Who Can Get Copies
Correcting Minutes
The Secretary's Job
Deadline and Voting Calculators (free)