Proxies: letting someone vote in your place
General meetings live and die by proxies. Here is how an owner appoints one properly, what the proxy can do, and how the count should appear in the minutes.
Most stratas cannot fill a room. Proxies are how a corporation with sixty lots reaches quorum with twenty bodies present, and how a snowbird in Arizona still votes on the special levy. Section 56 of the Strata Property Act keeps the requirements light, which is exactly why sloppy proxies cause registration-desk arguments.
What makes a proxy valid
A proxy appointment must be in writing and signed by the owner. That is the core of it. A good proxy also states the strata lot number, names the person appointed, says whether it is for a specific meeting or a standing appointment, and is dated, because a later proxy revokes an earlier one and the date settles which is later. The Act does not prescribe a form; any paper carrying those elements works, and many stratas include a simple form with the meeting notice to keep them consistent.
A proxy may do anything the owner could do at the meeting unless the appointment limits them: count toward quorum, speak, and vote, including on three-quarter resolutions. An owner can also give a directed proxy ("vote in favour of resolution A") and the proxy holder is expected to follow it.
Who can and cannot hold a proxy
Almost anyone can act as a proxy: a spouse, a neighbour, a friend, another owner, a family member. The Act restricts certain people connected to the strata's management from acting as proxy; if your strata manager or an employee of the management company is being handed proxies, stop and check the current text of section 56 before the meeting, because votes cast through an ineligible proxy are exactly the kind of thing the Civil Resolution Tribunal unwinds.
Running the registration desk
Collect proxies at sign-in, check each for a signature and lot number, and keep them with the meeting records. The minutes then record the totals: "31 eligible votes were represented: 22 in person and 9 by proxy." That single sentence supports the quorum calculation and every vote that follows. If a proxy is rejected as invalid, note the fact neutrally. Keep the proxy papers themselves with the corporation's records for the same retention period as the minutes; see our records retention guide.
Common proxy problems
The photocopied signature. A photocopy or scan of a signed proxy is generally accepted; a proxy "signed" by someone other than the owner is not a proxy at all.
The stale standing proxy. An old general proxy surfaces years later. The dated, most recent appointment governs, and attendance in person by the owner supersedes the proxy for that meeting.
The proxy harvest. One person arriving with a thick stack of proxies is lawful, and it decides contested meetings. The defence is participation, not paperwork: circulate clear information with the notice so owners direct their proxies deliberately.
Let us handle the minutes themselves
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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.