It is the format you will see most often among new multiplex buildings in Vancouver and Burnaby, and there is a straightforward reason for that. Four divides a rectangular lot neatly, which produces homes that are similar to each other and simple to lay out, and four households make a workable strata.
The short version
- Four separate homes, four titles, four households sharing the building's costs.
- Four divides neatly, so the homes are often near mirror images of each other, unlike in a triplex.
- Shared costs split four ways, which softens a large repair compared with a duplex or triplex.
- Four owners is enough for a functioning strata and small enough that you will know everyone.
- The common arrangements are four side by side, or two pairs stacked, and each lives differently.
The two common layouts
Four side by side is the townhouse style arrangement: four homes in a row, each running from the ground up over two or three floors, each with its own entrance from the street. The two end homes have a neighbour on one side only, which is a real advantage for light and for sound, and they usually cost more than the two middle homes.
Two pairs stacked is the other common arrangement: two homes on the lower levels and two above. The lower homes generally get the garden and the step-free entrance. The upper homes generally get better light and, on some sites, a view. Where a building sits on a slope, the difference between the two levels can be substantial.
A few fourplexes combine the ideas, with side by side homes at the front and stacked homes at the back. Read the strata plan alongside the floor plans, because a listing description will rarely make the arrangement clear enough to choose from.
What four households changes
Four is the point where a small strata starts to behave like an organisation rather than an arrangement between neighbours.
You will have a council, minutes, a budget and an annual general meeting, and in a four home building the council is usually all four owners. Decisions carry by majority for ordinary matters, and the Strata Property Act sets higher thresholds for some things. The practical effect is that one difficult owner is an irritation rather than a roadblock.
The cost side improves too. Splitting a repair four ways is meaningfully easier on each household than splitting it two or three ways. Against that, a four home building often has more shared property to look after, which raises the bill before it is divided. Compare the actual fee and the depreciation report rather than assuming the count settles it.
| Homes in the building | Share of one repair, if divided equally |
|---|---|
| 2 (duplex) | One half each |
| 3 (triplex) | One third each |
| 4 (fourplex) | One quarter each |
| 6 (sixplex) | One sixth each |
| 8 (eightplex) | One eighth each |
Illustrative arithmetic only. Real stratas divide shared costs according to the schedule registered for that strata, which is not always an equal split, and the size of the bill depends on what the building has to maintain.
Choosing between the four
Because the homes in a fourplex are often similar, the choice usually comes down to position rather than to the home itself.
In a side by side building, the end homes have one shared wall instead of two. That means more windows, more light, and less chance of hearing a neighbour. They are usually priced higher, and whether the premium is worth it depends on how much time you spend at home and how sensitive you are to sound.
In a stacked building, the decision is stairs against light. A lower home with step-free access and a garden suits a household with young children, an older parent or anybody with mobility limits. An upper home suits a household that values light and quiet underfoot, since nobody is walking above you.
Look at where the parking sits and how far it is from each door. In a four home building the parking area is usually shared, and the difference between the closest and furthest home can be twenty or thirty metres of carrying shopping in the rain.
What to check before you offer
Ask for the strata plan, the bylaws, the budget, the depreciation report, the contingency fund balance and two years of minutes. That set of documents answers most of the questions that matter, and a seller who cannot produce them promptly has told you something.
Check what is common property and what is yours. In a small building the line is not always where buyers assume: a patio attached to your home may be common property that you have the exclusive right to use, which is a different thing from owning it.
Ask about the shared items with a finite life. Roofs, windows, decks, fences and any shared heating equipment all wear out on a schedule, and the depreciation report is where that schedule is written down. A building whose fund is well short of its plan is a building where a levy is coming.
Finally, for a brand new fourplex, ask who built it and confirm the home warranty details rather than taking a brochure at face value. BC Housing requires warranty insurance on new homes built by a Licensed Residential Builder, with 2 years on materials and labour, 5 on the building envelope and 10 on the structure.
Ask how the strata fee is allocated between the four homes. It is not always an equal split: the schedule registered for the strata usually allocates by the relative size of each home, so a larger end home may carry a larger share. That is normal, and you want to know your own figure rather than the building's average.
Look at whether any of the four homes has been designed differently from the others, for example with a lock-off room, a separate entrance to a lower level, or a larger deck. Those differences affect both what the home is worth and how it can be used, and they are easy to miss when the four homes are otherwise similar.
Check the outdoor space attached to each of the four, since this is where fourplexes vary most. A ground floor home may have a genuine garden, a small patio, or nothing but a shared lawn, and two homes in the same building can differ completely. The strata plan shows which is which, and photographs almost never do.
If the building is new and only some homes have sold, ask what happens to the strata while the rest are unsold. The first owners often find themselves running a strata whose remaining homes still belong to the company that built them, and the arrangements for that period should be written down rather than assumed. Ask when control passes to the owners and what happens to unsold homes in the meantime.
Look at whether any of the four homes has been laid out differently from the others: a lock-off room, a separate entrance to a lower level, a larger deck, an extra parking space. Those differences change both what a home is worth and how it can be used, and they are easy to overlook when the four homes look broadly similar on a price list.
Ask how the strata fee is allocated between the four, as well. It is not always an equal split. The schedule registered for the strata usually allocates by the relative size of each home, so a larger end home carries a larger share. That is entirely normal, and you want the figure for the specific home you are buying rather than a building average.
Ask, too, how the four homes are metered. Separate meters for electricity, gas and water are standard in new buildings and worth confirming, because anything shared has to be apportioned by the strata and that is a small ongoing job somebody has to do.
If the building is brand new and only some of the homes have sold, ask what happens to the strata while the rest are unsold. In practice the first owners often find themselves running a strata whose remaining homes are still owned by the company that built them, and the arrangements for that period should be set out rather than assumed.
Questions buyers ask
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Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page comes from the body that issues it. Rules and rates change, so each entry says when we checked it.
- Strata Property Act, SBC 1998, c. 43. BC Laws, Queen's Printer for British Columbia. Accessed 29 August 2026.
- Home Warranty Insurance: What Homeowners Need to Know. BC Housing. Accessed 29 August 2026.
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