Property management
in Burnaby

Most full-service property managers in Burnaby and the Greater Vancouver area charge a placement fee equal to half a month’s rent plus a monthly management fee of 7-10% of rent. Birds Nest fees are half a month’s rent for tenant placement (plus GST) and 8.33% of monthly rent for ongoing management (plus GST), with no other fees. No vendor markups, no referral kickbacks, no renewal fees, no fees during vacancy. See our Vancouver Property Management Fees Guide for more details.

Rental owners living outside Canada also pay a 2% non-resident tax filing fee if they want Birds Nest to cover their CRA NR4 reporting.

This is currently the single most important market dynamic for any Burnaby condo owner. NUVO, Anthem’s 44-storey, 358-home tower next to Patterson SkyTrain, completed in March 2026. Polygon’s 38-storey Perla, Bosa’s 41-storey Central Park House, Beedie’s 45-storey Slate, and Concord’s Oasis at Brentwood are still completing through the rest of 2026. Concord Metrotown’s Phase 1, Sky Park, is now guiding to late 2026 to early 2027 completion, with three towers totalling roughly 1,400 homes anchored by the 65-storey Grand Tower, which becomes BC’s tallest building on completion.

The practical effect for an owner of an older Burnaby condo: tenants touring your unit are comparing it to a brand-new tower one or two SkyTrain stops away with a concierge, gym, parcel storage, and air conditioning. Pricing realism, presentation quality, and listing speed matter more in Burnaby than in most Greater Vancouver submarkets currently. Our professional presentation with photography to our standards combined with our leasing team’s attention to tenant prospects combine to help your property compete in this sharp rental market.

As of the most recent Birds Nest portfolio data, on September 30, 2026, the average Burnaby one-bedroom rents for $2,209 and the average two-bedroom for $2,718. Across Q3 2026 we signed 5 new two-bedroom leases at an average of $2,870, exceeding our portfolio average rent, which suggests our Burnaby two-bedroom market was firmer in the late summer despite broader market stats to the contrary.

Rents do vary meaningfully by town centre. Across our two-bedroom portfolio: Metrotown leads at $2,863, followed by Brentwood at $2,800. Edmonds, Highgate, and the SFU area sit between $2,450 and $2,650, and Lougheed is the lowest at $2,332. Brentwood and Metrotown also see the highest leasing activity. These are rents we’re actually achieving on real Birds Nest leases and not asking rent estimates from public listing portals.

No, the Empty Homes Tax is a City of Vancouver bylaw and applies only to residential properties within Vancouver city limits whereas Burnaby has no equivalent municipal vacancy tax.

But every Burnaby owner is still subject to the BC Speculation and Vacancy Tax, which is a separate provincial tax that applies across most of Greater Vancouver including Burnaby. Every BC residential property owner in a designated taxable region must file the Speculation and Vacancy Tax declaration annually by March 31. See our BC Speculation and Vacancy Tax Guide for more details.

Burnaby property tax for 2026 was due July 3, 2026 as a single annual payment, with a 5% penalty applied immediately after the deadline and another 5% added after September. The home owner grant must also be claimed by July 3 if eligible. The 2026 property tax increase was set at 2.9%.

Most Burnaby residential properties also pay flat-rate utility fees for water, sewer, and garbage. For the upcoming year, the annual 5% early-payment discount deadline will be in March 2027. Starting in 2027, the City of Burnaby is permanently moving the Sewer Parcel Tax off your property tax notice and combining it onto your Annual Utility Notice. Also, the city has started moving some properties to metered billing, starting with strata properties that are “meter-ready”, so check your notice.

The maximum allowable rent increase in BC for 2027 is 2.2%, down from 2.3% in 2026. The cap tracks BC inflation and applies to existing tenancies only.

Three rules: you can raise rent once every 12 months, you must give three full months’ notice on the official Notice of Rent Increase form (RTB-7), and missed years can’t be added later. For a January 1^st, 2027 increase, the tenant had to receive notice by September 30, 2026.

See our 2027 rent increase guide.

Yes, Burnaby schools affect rental interest significantly, and more than most Burnaby owners realize. Burnaby School District (SD 41) consistently performs above the provincial average, hosts students from families speaking 70+ languages, and runs strong secondary schools across the city, including Moscrop (Metrotown catchment), Burnaby North (Burnaby Heights area), Burnaby South (Metrotown), and Byrne Creek (Edmonds catchment). For a meaningful share of Burnaby’s family tenant pool, school catchment is the deciding factor before they tour the unit. A condo in a strong catchment can rent meaningfully faster than an otherwise-identical unit a few blocks across the catchment line.