Strata buildings that were built in the 1980’s and 1990’s were built with a building code that failed and caused what was referred to as the “leaky condo crisis” in Greater Vancouver.  The building code changed somewhere around 1980 which caused water to be trapped within the exterior walls of the building and therefore created rot and mold.  Around 1999/2000, the building code was modified to resolve the issue.

The fix was called “rainscreening” a building.  If a building fails and needs to be rainscreened it is very costly (costs vary depending on the size of the unit, complexity of the building, and scope of work, but some owners have paid between $40,000 to $220,000 per unit).  Plus it is very invasive to live through rain screening, as the windows and siding of the building need to removed so workers are in and out of the units. If a building has been flagged as a leaky condo, it becomes more difficult to sell until it's remediated. Concrete buildings built within this period, may or may not require rainscreening.

Of course, we are not building experts, so we highly recommend having the property inspected by a property inspector when you purchase and discuss this issue plus possible costs with your home inspector.

Please read the following four articles discussing this issue.