B.C.’s Homebuyer Protection Period won’t be in place until late spring
The Vancouver Sun Staff
The Vancouver Sun
No decision yet on how long the cooling off period will be and what penalties may apply
If you’re buying a home in Metro Vancouver, there’s a chance you’ll end up competing with others for the same property. Photo by Michael Vi /iStock/Getty Images
B.C. Minister of Finance Selina Robinson says details of the government’s plan to introduce a cooling-off period for homebuyers will not be revealed until late spring.
“Regulations will be introduced this year to define the specific time homebuyers will have to exercise this right as well as the financial costs of retracting an offer,” Robinson said in a statement, later clarifying that it would be late spring.
The plan to amend B.C.’s Property Law Act was announced in last month’s provincial budget and was introduced to the legislature on Monday — creating a Homebuyer Protection Period to protect people buying a home in a “challenging real estate market.”
The amendments will allow a buyer who has an accepted offer to rescind that offer within a period of time yet to be revealed.
Robinson said that 70 per cent of offers in B.C.’s most competitive markets over the past year were made without conditions, which can lead to major repair and renovation costs or the loss of a deposit if the buyer’s financing falls through.
“People need to have protection as they make one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives,” Robinson said. “In our overheated housing market, we have seen buyers feeling pressure to waive conditions just to be considered, and new homeowners discovering costly problems only after a deal has closed.
“We want to make sure people buying a home have time to get the information they need to make a sound decision within limits that still give sellers the certainty they need to close sales.”
The amendments would enable the creation of a period to give people buying a home more time to consider their offers, ensure financing and obtain a home inspection, instead of feeling like they need to waive these conditions, she said.
The Home Inspectors Association of B.C. and Mortgage Professionals Canada support the move.
B.C. is the first Canadian province to implement a homebuyer protection period for resale properties and newly constructed homes.
Seven-day, cooling off periods for pre-construction sales of multi-unit development properties such as condos are already in place under the Real Estate Development and Marketing Act.
The B.C. Real Estate Association says the new law will not be effective and adds a layer of uncertainty for sellers.
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