The field is short, and it decides more about the home than almost anything else on the listing. This page explains what each label means under BC law, and what to ask when you see it.
The short version
- Freehold means you own the land or the strata lot with no end date. The land title office calls freehold owners the registered fee simple holders.
- The second word tells you whether there is a strata: Freehold Strata has one, Freehold NonStrata does not.
- Leasehold means you own what a lease gives you, until the lease ends. The lease is the document to read.
- A leasehold strata plan, under Part 12 of the Strata Property Act, sits on land leased from a government, a municipality, a First Nation or another public body.
- The ownership field is the seller's description. The title at the land title office is the record, and the two should match.
Freehold: ownership with no end date
Freehold is the oldest and simplest form of ownership in BC. You own the land, or your strata lot, with no end date, and you can sell it, mortgage it, rent it out within the rules that apply, and leave it to someone in your will. The land title office describes a title as listing the registered fee simple holders, which is the legal term for freehold owners, along with the legal description, the parcel identifier (PID) and the charges, liens and interests registered against the land.
The Strata Property Act uses the same idea. Section 1 defines an owner as the person shown in the land title register as the owner of a freehold estate in a strata lot, or, in a leasehold strata, the leasehold tenant. So a Freehold Strata home is a strata lot owned in fee simple: yours with no end date, inside a strata corporation.
A freehold strata lot carries the strata's bylaws and fees, and a freehold house carries the city's bylaws and property tax. Freehold tells you how long the ownership lasts.
The labels on a multiplex listing, one at a time
Each label is a short answer to two questions: how long do you own it, and is there a strata? The table below sets them side by side. The longer explanations follow, and each one has its own page in this guide where the label needs one.
Freehold Strata is the usual label for a new duplex, triplex or fourplex home sold one home at a time. You own your strata lot outright and share the common property with the other owners. The strata corporation insures the building and repairs the outside.
Freehold NonStrata means freehold land with no strata plan. On a detached house that is the normal case. On a duplex or a house with a suite, it usually means the whole property sits on one title, and if two households own it, they each own a share of the whole.
Bare Land Strata means a strata where the lots are pieces of land. You own your piece of land and the home on it, and you insure and repair that home yourself.
Leasehold prepaid-Strata means a strata home on leased land, where the rent for the land has been paid in advance for the length of the lease. First Nations Lease means the land is leased from a First Nation. In both cases you own what the lease gives you, until it ends.
| Label | How long you own it | Is there a strata? | First document to ask for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freehold Strata | No end date | Yes | Strata plan and Form B |
| Freehold NonStrata | No end date | No | Title, and any co-ownership agreement |
| Bare Land Strata | No end date | Yes, over land rather than rooms | Strata plan and bylaws |
| Leasehold prepaid-Strata | Until the lease ends | Yes | The lease, and its end date |
| First Nations Lease | Until the lease ends | Depends on the lease | The lease, and its end date |
Labels as they appear in the Greater Vancouver board feed read by MultiLiving on 23 October 2026.
Leasehold: what you buy, and for how long
A leasehold home is one where somebody else owns the land, and you own the right to use it for the length of a lease. When the lease ends, what happens to the home depends on the lease itself. Some leases can be renewed. Some return the land and the home to the landlord. Some say nothing clear, which is its own warning.
Part 12 of the Strata Property Act sets out how a strata works on leased land. Section 199 defines a leasehold strata plan as a strata plan where the land is subject to a ground lease, and limits who can be the landlord: the Province, Canada, a municipality, a regional district, the Nisga'a Nation or a Nisga'a Village, a treaty First Nation, or another public authority named in the regulations. The owner of each home is a leasehold tenant under a strata lot lease.
Leased land on a First Nation reserve works under its own rules, set by federal law and by the Nation, and the lease will say which apply. We do not try to summarize them here, because they differ from one Nation to the next. Ask a lawyer who handles leased land on that Nation's land to read the lease with you.
The listing often shows the year the lease ends, in a separate field. If it does not, ask the listing agent for it in writing before you do anything else.
Two or more owners on one freehold title
A freehold title can name more than one owner, and how they hold it matters. Section 11 of the Property Law Act says that when land is transferred in fee simple to two or more people, they are tenants in common unless the transfer shows a different intention, and if their shares are not stated, the shares are presumed to be equal.
Tenants in common each own a share they can sell or leave in a will on their own. Joint tenants own the property together, and when one dies, the others keep it. Couples and families often choose between the two when they buy. Our guide on how title is held in a family explains the choice, and your lawyer or notary will ask you which you want before the transfer is registered.
Questions to ask for each label
The label is the start of the research. Each one points to a different set of papers, and buying without them is the mistake to avoid.
- Freehold Strata: ask for the strata plan, the Form B, the bylaws, the last two years of minutes and the insurance summary.
- Freehold NonStrata on a multiplex: ask whether more than one person owns the title, and for the co-ownership agreement if they do.
- Bare Land Strata: ask what the strata looks after, what you insure yourself, and for the bylaws.
- Leasehold prepaid-Strata: ask for the lease, the year it ends, whether it can be renewed, and what happens to the home at the end.
- First Nations Lease: ask for the lease, the year it ends, which rules govern it, and whether there are yearly charges on top of the price.
- Other: ask the listing agent to explain the ownership in writing, then check it against the title.
Check the label against the title
The ownership field on a listing is written by the listing side. The title at the land title office is the legal record. They should match, and when they do not, the title wins.
You can read the title yourself. The land title office's fee listing as at April 1, 2026 shows a title search at $11.06, through an LTSA Explorer account, using the parcel identifier or title number. A strata title will show the strata plan number at the end of the legal description, in the form 'VR 1234', 'LMS 789', 'BCP1234' or 'EPP123'.
Your lawyer or notary searches the title before completion as part of their work. Reading it yourself before you write an offer lets you ask questions before the price is agreed.
Our view on leasehold multiplex homes
In our view, a leasehold home can make sense for a buyer who plans to live in it for a set number of years and who has read the lease with a lawyer. It makes less sense for a family that wants to hold the home for the next generation, unless the lease runs well beyond that horizon and its renewal terms are written down.
Most of the multiplex homes we show are Freehold Strata. When a leasehold home comes up that a buyer likes, we ask for the lease first and the floor plan second, because the lease is what decides the value of every square foot.
Questions buyers ask
More in Strata or Freehold
Also worth reading
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.
- Search for a Title. Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia (LTSA). Current page, accessed 23 October 2026.
- Find Strata Property Information. Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia (LTSA). Figures as at 31 March 2026, accessed 23 October 2026.
- Fees: LTSA Customer Fee Listing. Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia (LTSA). Listing as at 1 April 2026, accessed 23 October 2026.
- Strata Property Act, Part 1: Definitions and interpretation (section 1). BC Laws, King's Printer for British Columbia. Act current to 20 October 2026, accessed 23 October 2026.
- Strata Property Act, Part 12: Leasehold strata plans (sections 199 to 216). BC Laws, King's Printer for British Columbia. Act current to 20 October 2026, accessed 23 October 2026.
- Strata Property Act, Part 5: Property (sections 66 to 82). BC Laws, King's Printer for British Columbia. Act current to 20 October 2026, accessed 23 October 2026.
- Property Law Act, RSBC 1996, c. 377, section 11 (tenancy in common). BC Laws, King's Printer for British Columbia. Act current to 20 October 2026, accessed 23 October 2026.
Want this checked against a real home?
Send us the address or the project name. We will look at what is actually on offer, tell you what the numbers on this page work out to for that home, and say so if it is a poor fit.